Intensity
by mama4dukes
Summary: Twelve years have gone by since Paul and Bella walked away from La Push and reached for success. When they unexpectedly run into each other, the pack suddenly comes trickling back into their lives. Time changes people but can it change traditions? AU/OOC
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is my new story folks, and I am quite excited by it. I hope that all of you enjoy it, too.**

**A special thank you to IzzyBFFAddict92, Sparkling Fae, Lunar Eclipse1, KareBear1965, and Arrr for pre-reading the first chapter for me, and giving me the confidence to post it.**

**Warning: If you are offended by swearing or sex, it's best that you do not read this story.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Paul's POV**

"Paul, I love you, but I'm not in love with you. I need someone more...um...well, let's just say that I need a guy with a more professional job in an office, not some construction worker."

"Tina, I own my own engineering and corporate construction company. I have about a hundred employees who work for me and my company has an annual revenue of about fifty million dollars so far this year."

"Yeah, well, um can't you do something else like be a lawyer or a stockbroker? Better yet, why not be a doctor?"

"Um, no. I enjoy what I do."

"You're so selfish. You're not willing to change for me. I have to go now. It's over. It's not you, it's me. You make great coffee, I'll always miss those."

With that, Tina took the last box out of my house and loaded it up into her BMW—the one that I purchased for her, because her shitbox Hyundai finally kicked the bucket. Bitch.

I had a feeling she was only living with me for my money. The bitch was constantly trying to change me. She was always telling me what to do, when to do it, how to dress, fuck—she was even telling me what to drink. _"Ugh, beer is so crass. Drink wine, it's more refined."_ She didn't cook either—correction, she couldn't cook so we always ended up dining out.

I slumped onto my sofa and took a look around. Empty. My girlfriend of three years had left me. Three fucking years of time wasted! Fuck! Oddly enough, it didn't hurt so much. I always knew she wasn't my forever. There was never any sort of intensity in our relationship. I've seen intense too—Sam and Emily, Quil and Rachel, Jared and Kim, Jake and Angela. They had intense relationships. Of course, they were imprinted couples, but still—there was something deeper in their relationship.

I thought of the pack in La Push, I haven't seen or spoken to them in over five years. Hell, I haven't even phased since I graduated from college six years ago. After I ripped apart the red headed bloodsucker going after Bella Swan, we patrolled the lands for two more years, but didn't come across anymore vampires so the tribal council gave us permission to resume our normal lives. I decided to take the only good advice my drunk mother gave me and get an education. Whenever she was sober, she'd tell me,_ "Paul, you don't want to become like me or your ol' man. Don't fuck around. Go to college and get the fuck off of this reservation."_

She turned out to be right, I ended up earning my bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Building Technology at the University of Washington and left La Push for good at the age of twenty-four. A year later, I went back to La Push to bury my mom. She died of alcohol poisoning. At least she died doing something that she loved. That was five years ago, I haven't been back to the State of Washington since then. I had no real ties and there was nothing for me. Jared and Sam called me every once in a while to see how I was doing—that was about it. Nothing else existed for me there.

I decided to change the locks to my house—I didn't need Tina waltzing back into my life, I'm through with her. After that, I went to my hangout—The Bikini Lounge on Grand Avenue. I remembered when I first walked in, I thought it was a strip joint. Turned out to be a laid back dive bar—just my speed. Tina hated the place so we never came here together. I always stopped by after work for a beer before going home.

"The usual, Paul?" Frank, the bartender, asked as I plopped onto a stool.

"Yep." Frank slid a bottle of Killian's Irish Red to me. Ahh...refreshment that's soothing to the soul.

"You're a little late tonight, aren't you? You're usually here around five."

"Yeah, shitty day. My girl left me."

"Seems to be a lot of that going around," Frank sighed, as he poured a glass of Jack Daniel's straight for me. "Here, it's on the house. It'll help drown your sorrows."

"Thanks, Frank." I took the glass and toasted my demise. I downed it in one go.

"I guess I'll be seeing you a lot more now, huh?"

"Definitely."

I sat at the bar chatting with Frank for the next hour or so, then the bar started getting really busy. I went to the bathroom to go take a piss and as I was making my way back to my seat at the bar, a girl tripped on her own two feet and bumped into me. A very hot girl with long, wavy, brown hair and the sweetest body I'd ever seen. Maybe tonight was finally looking up. I grabbed her so she wouldn't fall and pulled her up so she was standing.

"Sorry!" She looked up to face me.

"Hey, it's no problem," I said, looking into her eyes. There it was. Bam! Intensity. I was standing stock still looking at my world. Nothing else mattered except for the woman in front of me. I could feel myself becoming tethered to her. There was no one more impor...

"You'd better not have fucking imprinted on me Paul Lahote!" Bella Swan sneered between her gritted teeth.

"Gotta go." I ran out of The Bikini Lounge and into a nearby alley and phased. For some reason, I couldn't control myself. What the hell just happened? I just imprinted on Bella Swan. How? Why? Why now? Why me? Why her? What the fuck am I going to do?

Bella Swan, former leech lover turned shapeshifter lover. Abandoned twice by the supernatural during her senior year of high school. No matter what that leech did to her, I knew that what Jacob did to her was worse. Three months after he and she started dating, Jacob imprinted on Bella's best friend Angela Weber. Rather than being straight up with Bella and telling her, they hid it from her. Bella found out about them on the day before her senior prom when she caught Jake and Angela fucking in his room. To make matters worse, he and Angela showed up to the senior prom together the next evening. Bella had mustered up enough courage to go to the senior prom solo. The pack collectively kicked the shit out of Jake. Even Bella's worst enemies, who at the time were me and Jared, sided with her. After that, Bella never set foot on the reservation again. She graduated from Forks High School and left for Jacksonville, Florida to be with her mother. Charlie Swan was devastated when she left, but he understood that her heart could only take so much. He would fly to Jacksonville to see Bella twice a year because she refused to return to Washington. Even after he and Sue Clearwater tied the knot, he kept mum about whatever she was doing to everyone on the reservation because, as he put it to Billy Black when he inquired, "It's none of your goddamned business." That's the last of the information I had on Bella Swan. Now she was my lifelong mate. Wonderful. At least she's hotter than hell. Nice, perky tits, too.

I phased back to human form, then realized that my clothes were ripped to shreds. I picked my wallet, keys, and my iPhone up off of the ground then tried to figure out what to do. I couldn't very well walk to my truck in my birthday suit. Phoenix on a Friday night wasn't exactly deserted—it was actually pretty hopping. Running home as a wolf was out of the question too. I'd scare the heck out of all of the humans. Shit! Now I feel the pull to my imprint. Aw, hell, this shit hurts, does she feel it too?

**Bella's POV**

Oh, what kind of fuckery is this? I know the little shit just imprinted on me. He had the same dazed expression that Quil did when he imprinted on Jake's sister, Rachel. Paul's a coward though. He just ran out of there like a bat out of hell. He took one look at me and freaked. Of course, I'm a pariah to the supernatural so I can't really blame him. I don't really want anything to do with their world anyway. All of this mating and imprinting is fucked up. It tore my world apart when I was in high school. Fortunately, after being unceremoniously dumped by a vampire and a shapeshifter within nine months, I realized that their world was definitely not for me, and took off for Florida. I got my shit together, graduated from college, got my master's degree, and now I'm doing pretty well for myself working as a nurse practitioner/certified nurse midwife here in Phoenix.

I really have my parents to thank. They stuck by me like glue and made sure that I didn't fall apart after my second break-up. The thing is, after I caught Jake in bed with my former best friend, Angela—I realized that it wasn't me, it was them. Who does that kind of shit to their friends? I also realized that I had to grow a backbone and learn to love myself, if I were ever going to love another again. I refused to be led around on a leash, so I became independent and gained a lot of confidence in the ten years since I left Forks. I...

...Oh hell, what the heck is this intense chest pain? I can't be having a heart attack. I exercise daily, I eat healthy—well, okay, I do have the occasional burger and I refuse to substitute margarine for butter, I like my baked treats too, okay scratch the healthy eating, but fuck I have my five servings of vegetables a day. I'm a fucking nurse practitioner for fuck's sake. I can write god damned prescriptions! Maybe I should take my pulse. Okay, so it's a bit elevated, but this chest pain really hurts.

"Hey, Blondie! You've got a phone call!" Frank called out to me from behind the bar. Who the hell would be calling me here?

"Stop calling me Blondie, Frank. That incident happened almost a year ago."

"Hey, you come into my bar looking that fucked up, and for some piece of shit doctor, to boot—well, let's just say that I ain't ever letting you forget."

I rolled my eyes at him. About a year ago, I was dating a douche named Jason who wanted me to color my hair blonde. I finally relented, and did. I looked so fucked up. Anyway, I colored my hair back to my chocolate brown the day after. The day after that, Jason broke up with me stating that he preferred blondes over brunettes, and added that I looked like shit as a blonde. Now, if that weren't the most fucked up reason to break up with someone, I don't know what is.

I took the phone from Frank and spoke, "Hello?"

"_Bella, this is Paul. Please don't hang up. I need help. I'm in the alley about six blocks down from The Bikini Lounge. I need you to walk down so I could explain what happened."_

"Um, why can't you just walk back here and tell me what happened?"

"_I phased, okay? I'm naked!"_

"Oh." Ohhhh! Shit, talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. "I'll be right there."

I paid my tab, hopped into my car, and drove the six blocks to the alley. "Get in! There's no one around," I called.

Paul jumped into the passenger seat quickly and I started driving. Motherfucker—this guy is built!

"Thanks, Bella."

"Don't mention it. Where to?"

"Um, I live in Paradise Valley. Do you know where that is?"

"Pshaw. I grew up here. I know this area like the back of my hand. Paradise Valley—pretty fancy if you ask me. So, what do you do that allows you to live in such a nice neighborhood?"

"Oh, I own a construction company. We handle corporate and government construction contracts," he mumbled.

"Well, that's impressive considering all of the odds against you on the reservation."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

About twenty minutes later, I pulled my car into the driveway of a huge ass, luxury mansion. Yes, I said mansion, in Paradise Valley.

"Um, come inside," Paul invited me in.

"Sure." Oh my, this is a nice house. "Impressive."

"Thanks. I designed and built it myself."

"Wow, you've really come a long way," I commented. I was stunned speechless at the awe inspiring beauty of his delectable naked body. I kept staring at his tanned body. I had an incredible urge to lick him from head to toe. The house was nice too.

"Let me just get dressed. I'll be right down."

I watched him walk up the stairs. I couldn't keep my eyes off of that firm ass of his. Sweet baby Jesus, what the hell is going on with me? The guy's a fucking shapeshifter. I can't get involved with him. Bella Swan does not do supernatural creatures of any sort—ever!

Paul came downstairs dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Damn! I wish he'd left his shirt off. "Thanks, Bella. I really appreciate you driving me home."

"No problem. Can I drive you back to the bar or your car? I imagine you didn't run all the way there from here."

"Yeah, that would be great." He kept looking at me with an intense look in his eyes. Hmm...my chest pain is gone. Must have been heartburn. Now, I just have to get rid of this overwhelming urge to give him a blow.

"Would you like a drink?" Paul asked when I didn't say anything. "I have beer, wine, iced tea, Coke, Sprite, coffee, hot tea?" _ Say me, say me._

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Did you eat yet? I can take you out to eat? I'm kind of hungry myself."

"No, I'm good. I...I..." I couldn't finish my sentence because Paul closed the distance between us and was standing right in front of me. He reached out to caress my jaw with his strong hands which were surprisingly gentle.

"I'm sorry, it's the pull. I have to be near you."

"What pull?" I asked.

"The imprinting pull. I need to be near you. I can't be far from you, otherwise I feel pain in my chest."

"So, that's what that pain was? I was wondering."

"Listen, Bella. I'll be whatever you want me to be. A friend, a brother, a lover, a boyfriend—I just need to have you in my life. I can understand if you're wary about getting involved with me, and I can accept that. We don't really know each other plus your experience with 'my kind' hasn't exactly been sunshine and daisies. I just...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to imprint on you...I had no control over it."

Well, what the fuck was I supposed to say to that? That may have been the most honest thing any guy has ever said to me. It was certainly way better than,_ "I'm sorry, Bella. It's just that I prefer blondes, and you just don't look good with blonde hair. In fact, you make a shitty blonde. I need a blonde for my image."_ Now, tell me that wasn't fucked up. No, fucked up was the girl who colored her hair blonde for her asshole doctor boyfriend who couldn't accept her for who she was.

"We'll figure it out. Let's get you back to wherever you need to go for now." _And if you want to take a __detour and climb on top of me, I certainly wouldn't mind._

He nodded to me, again, with that intense look in his eyes.

I drove back to Phoenix and he pointed me to where his truck was parked. I had no idea that Cadillac even made trucks. I dropped him off and said goodbye to him, then went home to think. Little did Paul know that I only lived about ten minutes away from him in Camelback East. Not as fancy as Paradise Valley, but it certainly did it's job. I lived in my mom's old house—the one I grew up in. She signed the deed over to me when I got my master's degree. She and Phil have a house in Jacksonville, which they share with my two little half brothers. It was my graduation present for doing so well in school, plus I think Phil wanted to get me as far away as possible from his minor league baseball team—he kept muttering something about everyone wanting to date me.

It worked out perfectly, the doctor that I used to go to for check-ups as a kid in Phoenix was looking for a nurse practitioner to take some of his caseload for him, and I was available for the job. I clear about ninety thousand dollars a year after taxes so I'm pretty comfortable. Plus, the hours aren't bad either. The practice is closed on the weekends so I have Saturdays and Sundays off, and I rarely get out of work later than six pm. I, do, however have to run to the hospital in case one of my patients goes into labor.

I decided to take a bubble bath and read. An hour later, I hit the sack. I had a long week, and a fucked up evening, and I needed to wake up with a clear mind so I could think.

_**The next morning...**_

I didn't get a good night's rest at all. My chest was in incredible pain and something in the back of my brain kept screaming at me to go and see Paul. I finally took an Ambien to knock myself out. Of course, now that chest pain is back and I'm horny as hell because I keep imagining a naked Paul. Not good, Bella Swan—not good at all.

I decided to get some grocery shopping done since it was Saturday morning. I made a list of everything I needed, then hopped into my car towards Safeway. I was perusing the oranges when Paul tapped me on my shoulder. Looks like he shops here too.

"Hi Paul. I see you're grocery shopping too."

"I'm trying. I don't really cook."

I peered into his shopping cart and noticed that he had a ton of frozen pizzas and TV dinners. He had a few cans of Spaghetti O's, peanut butter, jelly, and bread. He also had loads of beer, soda, chips, cookies, and microwave popcorn. Come to think of it, the microwave popcorn was probably the healthiest thing in there.

"Um, don't you eat vegetables or fruit maybe?" I asked.

"Yeah, I eat out most of the time. I can't cook that stuff anyway."

"How about bagged salad greens, precooked chicken, and some salad dressing?"

"They sell that stuff?" Paul asked in amazement.

"Yes," I informed him.

"Hey, can I walk around the store with you, Bella? You won't think I'm a stalker, will ya? Plus, my chest feels better when I'm near you." I put my hand to my own chest and realized that the intense pain was gone. "You feel it too, don't you?"

"Yes." I nodded my head in confirmation.

Paul placed his hand over mine that was on my chest. A feeling of warmth and contentment spread throughout my body. "Better?"

"Yeah, better," I admitted.

We continued shopping side by side, he helped me load my groceries up into the trunk of my car.

"So, do you live around here, Bella?"

"Yeah, about five minutes away in Camelback East. I live in the house that I grew up in."

"Cool."

"You can come over if you want. I can make you some lunch." Why the fuck did I just invite him over? Am I insane?

"Wow, a home cooked meal. I haven't had one of those in five years," Paul stated. "Sure, since you're offering."

Too late to back out now.

I gave him my address and he said he'd be over after he ran home to put his groceries away. As soon as he drove away, I ran back into the grocery store and grabbed a few steaks. If memory served me right, shapeshifters eat a hell of a lot more than a normal human.

After arriving home, I brought my shopping in and put everything away. I took the steaks out and threw them in a pan with some marinade. Meanwhile, I got started on the corn on the cob and the rice pilaf. Paul knocked on the door while I was setting the table. I let him in and he joined me in the kitchen.

"I'm just gonna go grill these steaks out on the deck. You can come with me if you want."

A few minutes later, I pulled the steaks off of the grill and plated them along with the corn and rice. Paul dug in appreciatively.

"Oh my God! Where the fuck did you learn how to cook? This is like the best meal I've had in my life."

"My grandmother on my dad's side taught me. I used to follow her around in the kitchen all of the time. I also had to cook out of necessity. My mom is, quite possibly, the worst cook on this planet, and dad can't cook to save his life."

We finished our lunch and Paul helped me clear the dishes away. "Thanks, Bella," he said, then, abruptly kissed me full on the lips. "Sorry."

"Don't be," I replied and attacked his mouth with a vengeance. Before I knew it, Paul had picked me up and my legs were wrapped around his body. He ran up the stairs, found my room, and dove onto my bed with me still attached to him.

We were ravenous for each other and we couldn't keep our hands off of our bodies. Our clothes were strewn on the floor and we were naked in no time flat. Paul planted kisses all over my body and soon he was licking up and down my slit making me squirm in pleasure. He moved up a bit to my clit and started circling it with his tongue. I was in full-on ecstasy mode when he suddenly ran his tongue all the way up my body and kissed me. A second later, he plunged his length inside of me.

"Yes!" I screamed. "Fuck me, Paul."

"Okay, baby, you asked for it." He didn't disappoint. He thrust himself into my pussy over and over again. Occasionally, he'd pull out and stop just to tease me.

"Please!"

"Oh, okay," he smirked and went back to fucking me. A few minutes later, I was there. I couldn't hold it in anymore and I pulsated all over his cock just as he released his seed deep within my core. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain assault my neck.

I squirmed to try and get away, but Paul's teeth were attached to my neck. Was he...biting me? He looked at me apologetically then started licking my neck with his tongue. It was soothing and oddly erotic. It sent tingly feelings straight to my core.

"I'm sorry, Bella. It was another instinctual thing. My wolf took over and I marked you."

"Marked me?" I asked, confused. I've never heard of that term before.

"Yeah," he sighed, then started explaining. "Marking happens when you mate with your imprint and your protective wolf side takes over. It releases my scent into your system so other wolves are aware that you're mated to me and it...it..."

"It what?"

"It...well...uh...you can't have babies with anyone, but me."

My jaw dropped. Holy motherfucker, if I want to have babies in the future, it's gonna have to be with Paul. It's not really a bad thing. He's much more intelligent than the rest of those goons in La Push. He's successful, owns his own business, and he's the best fuck I've ever had in my life, but hell, I don't know him at all. What if he's a psychotic killer? Or, worse yet, what if he's one of those brooding, emo type of men that are anally retentive, and have some sort of a God complex? Oh, hang on that was Edward Cullen.

Paul continued talking when he saw that I wasn't closing my mouth anytime soon. Is it a bad thing that I want him to slide his cock inside of my mouth so I can suck on it? Get your mind out of the gutter Bella!

"The thing is, it usually doesn't happen on your first go. Hell, from what I know, it's possible for it to not happen for years. Usually, both the wolf and his imprint have to accept each other fully and completely. In our case, Bella, I just imprinted on you less than twenty-four hours ago. On top of that, we haven't even discussed the imprinting."

"Do you think it has something to do with my having knowledge of your world prior to us imprinting? It's the only plausible explanation that I can come up with, Paul. When you think about it, the other imprints weren't even aware that you guys were shapeshifters until they were imprinted upon. The thing is, I knew as soon as you imprinted on me. Maybe that alone was enough acceptance on my part for Taha Aki."

"You know, you just might have something there. You may actually be the only imprint in history that didn't need an explanation of our legends. Heck, you even know who Taha Aki is. So, what are we going to do with the imprint?"

"This is going to sound nuts, but I think I'm going to have to accept it. I know enough about the supernatural world to know that I can't screw around with nature. Also, the chest pain thing is something I'm not willing to live with. I had to pop a sleeping pill to get some sleep last night. The problem lies in the fact that we barely know each other, Paul."

He smiled and pulled me into his arms. "Then, we'll just have to get to know each other."

"Sounds like a plan." I leaned my head back into his strong arms and allowed him to hold me. The happy feelings running through my body were incredible. If this is what imprinting feels like all of the time, then I gladly accept whatever the future holds for us.

**Okay, so let me know what you think. I'm jittery because this is my very first wolf fic. I can't wait to hear your thoughts and give you a response. XOXO mama4dukes**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you very much for all of your wonderful reviews, faves, and alerts. I'm so happy you're enjoying the story. In this chapter, we're going to speed things up a bit, I want to get to the point where we can re-introduce the pack in both their lives plus provide you with a bit more background information.**

**Check out the banner for this story by the lovely LunarEclipse1. Go to my profile page, click on the link, and let me know what you think.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only.**

**Paul's POV**

It was Monday morning and I was presenting a proposal to the City of Scottsdale. They wanted to rebuild one of their public schools and renovate a few others. If I could get this contract to go through, it was worth eighty million dollars to my firm. I was confident that I could make it work. Even if it didn't go through, I doubted that I could be brought off of my high.

I had spent the entire weekend making love to Bella. I got to know her pretty well, too. She was a nurse practitioner at a private medical practice. She could do almost everything a doctor could do, even write prescriptions. She couldn't perform major surgeries, though.

She was getting out of work at 6 pm tonight and I was picking her up and taking her out to dinner. She deserved a little break. She cooked for me all weekend and even packed a lunch for me. I haven't eaten this well since...well...since...damn, this is the first time I've ever eaten so well. My mom's idea of a good meal was takeout pizza. None of the other guys had a personal chef, a nurse that was almost a doctor, and a fucktabulous lover all rolled into one phenomenal imprinting package. On top of that, she kept in shape. She was a member of the same gym that I belonged to. I never saw her there because she usually worked out before work while I worked out after.

Bella told me all about her past relationships starting with the leech and ending with her most recent—some joker doctor who broke up with her because she didn't look good as a blonde. For some reason, she seemed to have dated a lot of baseball players in Florida. I, in turn, told her all about the women in my past. I even told her about my fresh break-up with Tina. I wanted to cover all bases because I didn't need that money grabbing whore showing up, out of the blue, trying to get back together with me.

_**Later that evening...**_

"I got it, Bella! I got the contract!" I said, excitedly as she climbed into my truck.

"Congratulations! We should celebrate."

"Okay, we'll start with dinner tonight and we'll plan something for the weekend. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great," Bella said, as she gave my hand a squeeze.

"How was your day?"

"Good, I should probably warn you that strep throat is going around. I must have seen at least fifteen kids with strep today. It probably doesn't affect you at all, does it?"

"No and it won't affect you, either. It's one of the perks of the imprinting mark that I gave you. It makes your immune system just as strong as mine for some reason. You also don't age while I'm still phasing."

"That may actually be the sexiest thing I've ever heard in my life. Not only is that mark a permanent antibiotic, it's like the fountain of youth as well." Bella leaned over to kiss me from the passenger side of the truck. Aw, hell, this feels nice. I need to be inside of her. Shit, now's not the time for my wolf to take over—I need to feed my girl so she has enough energy to get kinky with me.

"How about we do takeout Thai and some ice cold beer, and eat it on my deck?" I suggested. "Unless you prefer wine."

"Nope, I like beer. My favorite is Smithwicks—it's an Irish Red Ale. How about you?"

"I like Killians myself, I've never heard of Smithwicks."

"Trust me on this. Once you taste Smithwicks, you'll never go back to Killians," Bella said.

"Okay, we'll go to Wild Ginger, order our food, and while we're waiting for them to cook it, we'll run across the street to the liquor store and grab the Smithwicks."

Forty-five minutes later, we were back at my house feeding each other Thai food and sipping on the most cumworthy beer in the world, in between kisses. I just couldn't get enough of my imprint or this beer. I needed her and it was clear that she needed me. We finished our meal quickly, threw the rest of the beer in the fridge, then I carried her up to my bedroom to make love to her.

As soon as we got inside, Bella got down on her knees and started undoing my pants. When my cock sprang out at her, all hard and ready, she gave it her complete attention and took my entire length into her mouth. I mentally jotted a note of thanks to Taha Aki. _ "Dear Taha Aki, Thank you for giving me an imprint that knows how to suck cock. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank you for giving me a mate that can cook because I haven't eaten this well in my entire life. One more thing, thank you for giving my imprint one of the most fuckable bodies and smartest brains in the world. That's it for now. Yours Truly, Paul Lahote." _Holy fuck, she's good at this. That's right, baby, suck on my balls and lick the underside. Yep, perfect, work that tip, now take the whole thing in. I'm gonna blast my load in her mouth. I...I...aaahh... _"P.S. Thank you for giving me an imprint that swallows."_

_**One year later...**_

"I'm telling you, Bella. This is where we're gonna retire. I seriously want to look into buying some property here. It's a hop, skip, and a jump from Phoenix. Please, baby?"

"We just got here yesterday. Shouldn't we explore the island a bit more?"

"Nope, I know we should invest here. Look around you. There are beaches all over the place and, on top of that, it's sunny and in the eighties year round."

"Paul, you're not thinking things through again. We need to consider all of our options. What if we decide that we like another place better?"

"You're probably right," I whispered, putting my arm around her. We were strolling along Waikiki Beach at sunset and taking in the beautiful scenery. Today marked our one year anniversary since I imprinted on her. It had been the best year of my life. Bella ended up renting out her mother's home and moving in with me after a few months of the two of us going back and forth between houses. After awhile, it just didn't make sense anymore.

I looked up into the sky and was awed by the breathtaking purple sunset. There was a balmy sea breeze blowing off of the ocean. I decided it was now or never. I stopped, kissed Bella, then looked into her gorgeous brown eyes before speaking. "I still remember the exact moment I imprinted on you. I was terrified and couldn't help, but think that I must have offended Taha Aki in some horrific way for him to saddle me with you."

"Hey, that's not very nice!" Bella pouted. I kissed her on her lips.

"Shh...listen...but then I got to know you and you turned out to be everything I've ever wanted in a woman and more. You're everything I've ever dreamed about: my lover, my confidante, my personal chef, my sex goddess—most importantly, my best friend. I can't imagine spending my life without you—ever. You are my forever, the future mother of my children, the one who I live and breathe for, the one who I'd willingly lay my life down for." I got down on one knee and fished out the four carat diamond ring that I'd been carrying around for weeks. "Isabella Marie Swan, will you marry me?"

"Yes," she replied, simply, without hesitation, and with a big smile on her face. I placed the ring on her finger, then twirled her around on the sandy beach. Eventually, we plopped down in the sand and watched the beautiful Hawaiian sun go down together.

_**Three days later...**_

"Paul, I swear to you. These waves are nothing like the ones in La Push. You're gonna kill yourself. Maybe you should surf where the waves are smaller. It says here in this guide book that Sandy Beach has regular six to twelve foot swells sometimes reaching twenty-four feet."

"Hey, I'm a wolf. I'm not gonna die. If I start to drown, I'll just phase."

"Uh-huh, sure. You're gonna phase in broad daylight on a beach packed with people? There must be five hundred people here, at least."

"Babe, I can do this. I'm way better than that pale dude over there. I think he's whiter than you are."

"Maybe he's a vampire," Bella joked.

"Uh, no, he doesn't sparkle and he doesn't stink. He's just albino."

"Fine. I'll watch you from here, but if you drown—I'm not giving you CPR."

"Yes, you would, you love me and you can't live without me. Besides, if I die—you die, one of the perks of imprinting. I get to take you with me to the grave. We're stuck together in life and death, baby." I kissed my imprinting mark on her neck, grabbed the surfboard, and hit the waves.

Bella stood up with the camcorder and started filming. Oh, fuck. Maybe the albino dude is better than I am. These swells are huge! Suck it up, Lahote, you're the one that opened your big mouth and said that you could handle this shit. I paddled out to the ocean, desperately trying to hang onto my board. I had to admit, I was kind of terrified. As the oncoming whitewater approached, I managed to stand up. Hell, yeah! This is the shit! I could see Bella still filming and cheering for me on the beach. Suddenly, I was hit by another wave—a humongous one. "Fuuuuck!"

Bella was chuckling as I walked onto the beach carrying the now two pieces of my once whole surfboard.

"I can't believe I wiped out on my first go."

"And I've got the video to prove it too, Surfer Boy." Bella was cracking up. I gave her a little love pat on her ass. I dumped the pieces of my ruined surfboard in the recycling area where there were tons of other shredded boards—no doubt wrecked by other overconfident surfers like me.

"Let's drive down to Hanauma Bay. It says in the guidebook that the fish swim up to you."

"Don't you find that the least bit creepy?" I asked.

"No, look how beautiful the photos in this guide book are?" Aiyaiyai, Bella and her guidebook.

After frolicking at the beach all day, we drove back to the hotel so we could get ready for the Hawaiian luau and hula show that we purchased tickets for.

While she was in the shower, my cell phone buzzed.

"_Hey, Paul. What have you been up to?"_

"Oh, hi Jared. Not much. Just vacationing in Hawaii with my girl."

"_You're still with Tina man? What's it been—four years now?"_

"Uh, no, different girl. You know me." I still hadn't told anyone in the pack that I had imprinted. I hadn't phased since the night I met Bella and I didn't plan on doing it anytime soon. Bella hadn't told her parents about me either. This was a hurdle that we'd have to cross sometime soon, especially now that we were engaged.

"_You're like a perpetual playboy."_ Not really, I was actually settled down and pretty responsible. Sure I get wild and kinky, but that's only with my insatiable imprint.

"How are Kim and the kids?" I asked. Bella and I were in no rush to have kids.

"_Great! Little Rina is starting kindergarten soon and can you believe it—Ryan is going into the eighth grade."_ Like many of the wolves, Jared and Kim started having kids in high school. Ryan and Rina were just two of his five kids. I was one of only two wolves with a four year degree and only one of two, still unmarried, with no kids. The other wolf that earned his bachelor's degree was Seth Clearwater. Charlie and Sue had insisted he go to college. He graduated with a degree in law enforcement and was now a police detective at the Forks Police Department working for his stepfather. The other unmarried wolf was Embry Call.

"_So, when are you coming to La Push, man? We haven't seen you in ages. What's it been? Six years? We're thirty-one already fucker."_

"Yeah, time sure flies."

"_Oh, Embry finally imprinted last year on a white girl. Her name is Jessica Newton, nee Stanley. She __was recently divorced from the owner of Newton's Olympic Outfitters—Mike. I think she went to high school with Jake's Angela, Leah's Eric, and Bella Swan. I'll tell you one thing, she doesn't like Angela one bit. She takes every opportunity to remind her of what she and Jake did to Bella before the senior prom,"_ he said. _"I wonder how Bella is doing? Charlie still won't talk about her—even to Sue. I gather she's still in Florida with her mother."_

I didn't say anything because I wasn't ready to tell him about Bella. I was enjoying our alone time and I had no plans of returning to La Push.

"_Jared! Can you get Roy off of the roof! He's only six—he shouldn't be up there!"_ I heard Kim yelling in the background.

"_I've gotta go. Fatherhood calls. Keep in touch—you're still my brother. I love you, man."_

"Will do. You take care of that beautiful family of yours," I replied.

"Was that work?" Bella asked worriedly, coming out of the shower while toweling her hair dry.

"No, it was Jared Cameron. He called to see how I was doing. Embry Call finally imprinted last year on some girl from Forks High that you went to school with."

"Oh, yeah. Who?"

"Some girl named Jessica Newton, formerly Stanley."

"No way! She was okay. I didn't really make any close friends at Forks High. I was only there for a year and a half and too caught up with vampires and shapeshifters during that time. She had a serious crush on Edward Cullen."

"Are you ready to go?" I asked her. We looked like goofball tourists in matching Hawaiian print. I was wearing an aloha shirt while she wore a formfitting muumuu made of the same print. I didn't care—we were ridiculously in love and were doing this for fun.

"I dare you to wear black socks with that outfit," Bella giggled, as I threw my flip flops on.

"Now that's going too far. Even I have my pride."

Four days later, we arrived back in Arizona. We had just unloaded our bags, when the doorbell chimed. I went to answer it. Police Chief Charles Swan stood on the other side looking angry and worried at the same time.

"You mind telling me where my daughter is, Paul?" he questioned with a scowl. Fuck.

"Honey, who is it?" Bella strode up to the door and peeked around me. "Fuck."

"Are you going to let me in or do I have to stand out here getting baked in the hot Phoenix sun?"

"Sure, come in please, sir." I held the door open for him and motioned towards the living room.

We sat down in the living room facing Bella's formidable father.

"So, Dad, what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I'll tell you what I'm doing here. When my daughter doesn't pick up the phone or return my calls for a month. I get fucking worried. On top of that, I show up at her house and find out that it's been rented out. I had to use the police database in Phoenix to find out where you were living. It turns out that you've been here for nine months now! Well? Explain yourself!"

"Sorry, Daddy. I...well, Paul imprinted on me last year and we've been together ever since. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to deal with anyone in La Push. I also thought you'd be angry at me for getting involved with the supernatural again."

"How could you even think that, Bella? I love you. Did you judge me when I married Sue Clearwater?" Bella shook her head that she didn't. "That's right, you didn't and you knew that she was part of the tribal council even if she isn't a shapeshifter herself, she's still a part of their world. There's nothing you can do about imprinting. Being married to Sue, I've seen it happen three times already to Leah, Seth, and most recently, to Embry. Maybe now that you're an imprint yourself, you can come back and get to know Sue. She still wants to get to know you, you know."

Bella didn't say anything. Neither did I. Charlie, then, peered down at Bella's ring. "Are you two engaged?"

"Uh, yes, sir. I just asked her to marry me while we were on vacation in Hawaii."

"I suppose congratulations are in order then, kids. What do you do, son? You obviously have a pretty nice house and live in a decent neighborhood."

"I own my own construction business. It's doing pretty well."

"Now come on, son. I'm no idiot. All of this can't be achieved through simply owning a construction company."

"Yes, sir, my firm does corporate construction and engineering. I handle a lot of government contracts in towns and cities throughout Arizona."

Charlie nodded his head. "Good, at least you can support her, which is comforting to me even if she can support herself. You ever lay a hand on my daughter and I'll put a bullet between your eyes."

"I could never hurt Bella, sir. She's my world," I stated, honestly.

"Good, we understand each other, then. So, when are you two getting married?"

"We haven't discussed it yet. We just got engaged and don't even think about asking me about grandkids yet. We're both young and healthy and we have time," Bella said.

Charlie chuckled, "You know me too well. Leah and Seth have already given me three grandbabies each with one more on the way, but it would be nice to have one from my own flesh and blood. You're right, though, you still have time and I think the imprint almost guarantees that you'll be able to make babies when you're ready. Waiting a year or two won't hurt."

Bella started blushing a bright red. Geez. I hope Chief Swan doesn't think Bella's a virgin.

Charlie Swan stayed with us for three nights. He said he'd get a hotel, but we insisted he stay here. I mean for God's sake, we had seven bedrooms, ten baths, and an in-law apartment. I went a little nuts when I was building the house a few years ago.

We took Charlie golfing with us. I learned to golf out of necessity a few years ago. I quickly found out that, here in Arizona, the majority of big deals were set into motion on the golf course. Bella already knew how to golf because one of her friend's fathers taught her when she was growing up in Camelback East.

Charlie left declaring that it was his new favorite sport. I even bought him and Sue each a new set of golf clubs each and told him to practice with her when he got back to Washington. I did some research and found out that there were three golf courses in Port Angeles. He, in turn, made me promise to go fishing with him when we visited Forks. Bella went a step further and invited Sue to along the next time he flew in for a visit. He looked relieved that she was finally extending an olive branch of sorts. Charlie assured us that he and Sue would keep our relationship a secret from the pack until we were ready to tell them ourselves.

"Phew! That was unexpected," I said to Bella after Charlie left.

"No kidding, but I think he likes you. He kept calling you, son, and he invited you to go fishing with him in Forks. He doesn't do that unless he likes you."

"How the heck am I supposed to fish? I don't know anything about it."

"How can you not know how to fish coming from where you do?" Bella asked.

"My old man was too drunk to fish and no one ever took me along with them. That's why I learned how to surf."

"Yeah, and you're a pro at that. I witnessed it myself," Bella said, mockingly.

"Why you..." I started tickling Bella on the sofa. She was giggling like crazy.

"Okay, I give...I give..." Bella said. I kissed her soundly on the lips and made love to her right then and there. Three nights with her father in the house was a cockblocker to be sure.

_**Four months later...**_

"Hey, baby, where are you?" I called my fiancee's cell phone because it was already eight pm and normally, she would have been home an hour and a half ago.

"I'm pulling into the garage now. I need help with the bags."

I ran into the garage to greet her. "You don't usually go shopping until Saturday. It's only Tuesday today."

"Uh, yeah, but we don't normally have guests flying in for the long weekend." Her little Volkswagen Beetle was loaded up with everything from groceries to sheets and towels. Charlie and Sue were coming to stay with us tomorrow night for Thanksgiving weekend. We were both nervous as hell. Sue Clearwater was a tribal elder, not to mention my future stepmother in law.

Last month, Renee, Phil, and their two kids had come to visit us. They were easy-going and relaxed. I got along well with Phil—he was only about eight years older than I was. We worked out at the gym and he showed me how his baseball team circuit trains. He was a minor league baseball coach down in Jacksonville. Renee was one hell of a ditzy woman. Bella was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to make sure that their boys were fed three square meals a day. When she found out that they hadn't gotten their flu shots yet, Bella came home and made sure that Renee, Phil, Tucker, and Tyler were properly vaccinated. They were doing pretty well for themselves financially, but dang—I think my drunk mother may actually have had her head together more than Renee. I mean, if my mother couldn't feed me, she made sure that someone else on the reservation did. Renee would just forget about breakfast,lunch, and dinner because she would become too engrossed in whatever she was doing. I'm so happy that Bella took after Charlie.

"Oh fuck!" Bella said, as she loaded the groceries up in the fridge. "I forgot to pick up a turkey. Who forgets to pick up a turkey for Thanksgiving?"

"Come on, babe, let's go get one. We'll eat out too. You've done enough for tonight."

We were perusing Whole Foods Market for a turkey and loading up the shopping cart with shit we didn't need when I heard a shrill voice that I never thought I'd hear again.

"Oh my God! Paul?"

"Oh, hey Tina," I greeted my ex. She was with some dude and sporting an engagement ring on her finger. The diamond wasn't as big or as flawless as the one I got for my fiancee.

Bella, for some reason, had an amused expression on her face.

"Paul, this is my fiance Jason."

"Bella?" Jason said, looking at my girl.

"Hello, Jason. I see you've met your ideal," she said, looking at the bottle blonde girl who was now my ex.

Bella, unable to control herself any longer, started guffawing in the middle of Whole Foods Market. Knowing that I have supersonic wolf hearing, she quickly whispered that Tina's fiance was the dufus doctor that broke up with her because she didn't look good as a blonde.

"Do you know that woman?" Tina asked Jason.

"Uh, yes, we dated for a time about a year before we met."

"Oh...is that all. Well, you have me now—she's obviously a little tapped in the head." Uh, yeah, this coming from the airhead that was a waitress at an airport cocktail lounge before she moved her ass into my house.

I couldn't hold it in any longer either and I started cracking up too.

"Well, see you later and good luck," I said as I waved the two of them off.

"Holy fuck, I don't think I've ever seen a more ideally suited couple than those two assholes," Bella chuckled.

"No shit, right? So, do we get a fresh or a frozen turkey?"

"Fresh, definitely. Get one that's over twenty pounds, that way we have leftovers and I can make you turkey pot pie."

"Now, you're talking, babe! Can we get those pita chips and more of that hummus stuff?"

"Yeah, definitely. Anything else?"

"Not really," I said, then, before I realized it, I had walked around the store and loaded the cart up with enough food to feed a small army.

"You do realize that I went grocery shopping before this, too, right?" Bella asked at the restaurant. "How the heck are we supposed to fit all of this stuff in the fridge?"

"It's been done before, we can make it work."

_**Later that evening...**_

"What the fuck do you mean by you can't fit my beer? I like having an ice cold one after work."

"Paul, the food will go bad if we don't keep it refrigerated—the beer won't." We had filled up the refrigerator to the hilt and were now loading things up in the refrigerator attached to our new outdoor kitchen.

"Stop growling. It was your own fault anyway for going crazy at Whole Foods. We were only there to buy a turkey. Have something else, like whiskey or red wine, until we have space in the fridge."

Is she out of her mind? Fine, I'll just go buy a new fridge tomorrow and throw it in the garage—just for my beer.

_**The next day...**_

**Bella's POV**

I had just picked my father and Sue up at the airport and we were heading for home. Paul was meeting us there after work. My father looked like he was geared up for golf—he was dressed in a golf hat and a golf shirt and looked ready to hit the links.

After making some small talk in the car, I pulled into our garage.

"Is Paul not home yet?" my father asked.

"No, doesn't look like it. He might be working late because the company is closed for the long weekend."

"Are you off too?"

"Yep, Dr. Blanchard always closes over Thanksgiving weekend. His family flies in to see him and his wife then. Let me show you to your room."

I took Charlie and Sue to the in-law apartment which we set up and furnished especially for them.

"Oh my goodness. This is so nice. This is as big as our house," Sue commented. "Are you sure, we're not putting you out?"

"No, this is your apartment to do with as you please. Paul and I set it up so you can come here whenever you want. Oh, here's the key. You have your own entrance or you can go in and out through the main house."

"Thank you, Bella," Sue acknowledged gratefully.

I heard Paul honk the horn of his truck from the garage. We went out to see him and...what in motherfucking hell?

"Can you use a hand, son?" Dad asked.

"Sure can."

"We already have a refrigerator. We have a SubZero for God's sake. Why do we need a second fridge?" I asked, shocked. "Correction, third—if we count the refrigerator attached to the outdoor kitchen."

"This fridge stays in the garage—it's for my beer," Paul replied then turned to Charlie. "Bella wanted me to have something other than beer after work because there wasn't enough room for it in the refrigerator in the kitchen. Can you believe that?"

"Women," my father commented and shook his head in disbelief. Traitor.

I walked back into the house and let Paul and Charlie set up the new, unnecessary refrigerator. Sue followed me inside and I decided to get started on dinner.

"Can I help you in the kitchen?" she asked.

"Um, sure. I'm just putting together a salad and I thought we could grill up some chicken. I figured that you've probably had your fill of fish being married to my father."

"Oh, for sure and Harry before him—I'm all fished out," she chuckled.

"Well, we have all sorts of food of the non-fish variety here."

"Speaking of fish. Hold on." Sue ran back to the in-law apartment and came back dragging a huge cooler on wheels.

"This is from your father, he caught it this past weekend with Seth and Billy Black."

I opened up the cooler and there were two fish about twenty-five inches long plus another fish about forty inches long. There were also several smaller fish about eight to ten inches long.

"What d'ya got there, babe?" Paul walked in from the garage looking completely satisfied with himself.

"Fresh fish from Washington. I can't identify most of them. I know the big one is salmon."

"The two medium sized ones are rainbow trout and the small ones are catfish," Sue explained. "We can filet and freeze them if you like."

"That would be great. I still remember you used to filet Charlie's fish for him before he brought it home for me to cook when I was in high school. Thank you for that."

"You're welcome, dear."

"So, Charlie, come on out back and I'll show you the new outdoor kitchen that I put in."

"Take the chicken and grill it while you're out there." I handed Paul the dish. After I taught him how to use the grill, he turned out to be pretty handy at grilling. Now, it was his job to grill.

Sue stared shocked at me. "How in the world did you tame Paul Lahote? I've known him all his life and I've never seen him so...so...domesticated."

"I don't know. We've always worked well together, at least since the imprint. I'd only met him twice, before it happened and that was when we were in high school still."

Paul ran back into the house, grabbed the tongs, and pecked me on the cheek. He looked at a stunned Sue and gave her a peck on the cheek, too, before running back outside.

"Can you train all of the men in La Push?" Sue asked.

"You're on your own there, Sue."

Sue taught me how to filet the fish. She made it look so easy. While I worked on one fish, a little catfish, mind you—Sue finished fileting the rest of the fish. When she was done, we had enough fish for at least twenty meals in the freezer portion of Paul's beer refrigerator. We cleaned up and I finished up the dinner. We brought everything out on the deck to eat.

"Oh, Paul, this is such a beautiful house. Did you really build it yourself?" Sue asked.

"It took me three years, but it was worth the effort. I actually finished it a couple of months before I met Bella. The outdoor kitchen is new. I just finished that a couple of weeks ago. I actually took the plans from some of the architecturally designed new constructions that my company built and reworked the designs to suit me."

"I told you he's as smart as a whip, Sue," Charlie beamed. "I like him so much better than that Eric Yorkie kid that Leah imprinted on. All he does is go to work, then come home and play World of Warcraft."

"I agree, the Yorkie kid works hard, but after work it's all computers. Our poor grandbabies are raising themselves," Sue agreed. "Speaking of grandbabies, when are you two going to bless us with some?"

"Um, Sue, Bella and I just got engaged four months ago. We're not in any rush to get married and start a family. We still have our careers to think about."

"Are you two out of your minds? You're both thirty-one years old! You should have at least six babies by now."

"Six?" Paul and I both gulped.

"We were thinking more like one child when we're forty," I said.

"Forty?" Dad and Sue both yelled out in shock and then it began. Both of them started nailing into us about how they were going to be dead before we ever gave them grandkids. Sue started screaming that Taha Aki was turning over continuously in his grave at the thought of us having kids at forty. He'd probably come back to life. Charlie stated that our kids won't have any playmates because all of their 'pack cousins' would be from a different generation. My eggs were gonna shrivel up. Paul would probably be on Viagra by the time he's forty and his sperm will no longer have the ability to swim. We would both keel over and die before our kids became five, therefore, saddling Dad and Sue with grandkids that they'd have to raise well into their seventies. I didn't bother pointing out the fact that the last statement they made totally contradicted their first statement in which they said they'd be dead before the grandkids were born.

Later in bed, Paul and I sat stunned leaning against our headboard.

"What the fuck was that?"

"It's called parental guilt. That's why we don't live in La Push. In fact, I'm thinking we should move to Tahiti," Paul suggested. "It's nice and sunny there—no vampires, pretty beaches, no parents."

"I agree, let's just abandon everything we've worked for and run. This parental guilt thing is horrific. So, how many more days are they here for?"

"Three nights, four days. Thank fuck they haven't told the pack about us yet. We'd be inundated with phone calls. By the way, we're going to Disneyland over Christmas. One of my clients gave me corporate passes for the resort—including a three night stay at one of the hotels there. I figured we can stay there first, then check out Los Angeles for a few days. Dr. Blanchard shuts the office down for a week between Christmas and New Year's anyway, right?"

"Yeah, he does. I'm actually excited, I've never been to Disneyland."

"Neither have I. We were always too poor to go," Paul said.

"Same here. Well, you know my mom, she isn't exactly Mrs. Responsible."

"Do I ever? I hope she's feeding Tucker and Tyler."

"They won't die, they'll figure out soon enough that they have to learn to cook if they want to grow into their teens. Besides, Phil is there and he makes sure that my mom stays on the ball for the most part. Trust me, they have it way better than I did as a kid."

"Still, let's send them a big box of snacks so they have stuff to munch on. Speaking of which, I'm hungry. Do we have anything to eat?"

I rolled my eyes at Paul. We had two refrigerators chock full of food and another full of beer and fish. What he was really asking was if I could whip something up for him really quick.

"Come on, big boy. I'll make you an omelette," I offered.

"I love it when you talk all sexy like that." Paul wagged his eyebrows at me. Yep, my man's always thinking with his stomach.

**Let me know your thoughts on this chapter. I'd love to hear what you think, particularly about Charlie and Sue. Things will start moving next chapter when the pack makes a reappearance in Paul and Bella's lives with a bang! As always, I promise to respond to your reviews.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for your reviews, messages, faves, and alerts. I truly love hearing your thoughts.**

**Warning: If you are offended by swearing, sex, or inappropriate behavior, it's best that you do not read this story.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Jared's POV**

"Daddy, where's Mickey Mouse?" Rina asked.

"I don't know, baby, this is Disneyland. I'm sure he's around here somewhere," I replied to my daughter. "Ryan! Stop kicking your little brother before I show you what a real freaking kick is!"

Geez! I swear my kids were impossible sometimes. Some of my pack brothers and I started a savings account five years ago and we scrimped and saved so we could all bring our imprints and kids to Disneyland. Our parents even contributed to the account—Charlie Swan contributed the most, throwing ten grand into the account. I thought it was really nice of him considering what Jacob and Angela did to his own daughter. Most of the pack have never really gotten over the guilt of what happened. We knew about the imprint and never told Bella so we were just as guilty as they were. Hey, I may not have ever really liked the leech lover, but no one deserved the shit that Jake and Angela pulled. Unfortunately, Jake and Angela were here with their kids, too. Billy Black contributed to the account, too, so they had to come along. Fortunately, Collin and his family weren't here. It would have been nice if Brady could have come along, though. He's a really good kid.

I wish Paul were here. He was my closest brother and my best friend. He took off as soon as the tribal council gave us the okay to stop patrolling. He got his shit together and went to college, graduated, and he was now living in Arizona. Someday, I'll get out there to visit him, but with five kids it was still a long way away.

We were in Tomorrowland when we finally spotted Mickey Mouse. The kids were all excited. A crazy couple darted out from nowhere and ran up to Mickey and hugged him. They were both sporting mouse ear hats and they had someone snap a shot of them. Fuck me.

All of our jaws dropped collectively when we realized who the couple was. It was Paul Lahote and Bella Swan. After hugging Mickey, Paul took Bella's hand and the two of them skipped, that's right skipped, to the Space Mountain ride and went straight through the Fast Pass line. They didn't even have to wait.

Our kids were all screaming at us to go see Mickey so we all went to hug him. We took a group shot of Mickey and all of our kids, then my pack brothers and I discussed what we had just witnessed.

"Were my eyes deceiving me or was that Paul and Bella?" Embry asked.

"Oh, that was definitely Bella Swan," Eric Yorkie said. "Did you check out her body? She's in better shape than she was in high school."

"Definitely," Jessica agreed. "It looks like she works out."

"What the hell is she doing with Paul, though?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, I thought she didn't want anything to do with any of us anymore," I added.

"They looked like they were in love," Kim noted dreamily.

"Hell no! I won't allow it to happen!" Jake snapped.

"I don't think you have much of a choice, Jerk...erm...Jake. As far as Bella Swan is concerned, you're public enemy number one," Emily pointed out, scathingly. She hated Jake with a passion. She and Bella had been extremely tight when Jacob and Angela pulled their brand of fuckery on her.

"Didn't Charlie and Sue visit Bella over Thanksgiving? They must have seen Paul then. Did they say anything to you?" Quil asked Seth.

"No, they just said that Bella was fine and that she was doing well for herself."

We talked a bit more and made our way over to the Space Mountain exit. Paul came out with his arm around Bella's shoulder. The two of them stopped upon seeing us and muttered, "Fuck" simultaneously.

"We have kids, you know. It would be nice of you to remember that," Angela said.

"Bitch," Bella whispered under her breath with a smirk. Angela didn't hear her, but Jake did and he started growling.

"Don't even think about it," Paul snapped, taking a protective stance in front of Bella. He looked us all up and down, grasped Bella's hand firmly, and disappeared into the crowd.

"Was that Uncle Paul?" Quil's son, Number Six, asked. We called him Number Six because his real name was Quil Ateara the Sixth and we couldn't very well have three Quils running around the reservation.

"Yeah, it was son."

"How come he looked so mad?"

"Because Uncle Jake growled at his girlfriend," Quil replied.

"Why would he do that? She was hot! Did you see the titties on her?" my hormonal thirteen year old son Ryan pointed out.

Kim slapped him in the back of the head.

Eric, then, piped in, "She always did have a nice rack. I used to sit and stare at them during lunch when we were in high school. I lucked out during senior year when she needed help with calculus. I got to sit next to her and peer down her shirt then."

Fucking pervert!

"She went to school with you, Uncle Eric? She looks too hot and young to be a MILF," Number Six said.

"I don't think you can call her a MILF, dude. She didn't look like a mother to me," Sammy stated. "I mean that was one spankin' bod."

"Okay, then she's a CILF."

"What the hell is a CILF?" I had to ask my son.

"A cougar I'd like to fuck." I rolled my eyes at my son upon hearing that. Where the hell did they get this shit?

"I wonder if she'd go to a school dance with me," Jake and Angela's son, Will, mused dreamily.

"Fucker! She needs a real man like me, not some sorry ass, braniac nerd like you," Emily and Sam's son, Sammy, scoffed. "The cougars dig me."

"None of you are going out with Bella Swan! She's too old for you and she's clearly dating Uncle Paul!" Sam laid the hammer down. "You guys don't even know if she's a cougar, and why the hell are we even discussing your non-existent dating prospects? If I can recall, three of you are grounded once we get back to La Push for that joy ride you decided to take in my truck through Forks. You're lucky it was Uncle Seth that stopped your sorry asses!"

The boys shut their mouths immediately. I had to admit, the boys were right. That girl was smokin' and Paul looked like he was still in shape too. I planned to investigate the situation later.

After a day of rides, fun, temper tantrums, lost children, found children, throw ups, arguments, tears, and the general wackiness of traveling in a big group with tons of children; we finally made our way back to the Motel 6 that we were staying at. One day, if I ever make enough money, I'll bring Kim and the kids back here and stay at one of their resorts. I'd love to spoil Kim, she gave me five beautiful babies and she works so hard at raising them.

There was a knock on our door and Sam was standing outside. "Emily is gonna watch the kids. If Kim would do the same with yours, we can go find Paul," he whispered, so Jake wouldn't hear. Sam missed Paul just as much as I did. The three of us were really tight before he left the res. We phased around the same time. Sam was a year older than Paul and I were—together we were the three oldest in the pack until Leah phased. She was the same age as Sam.

"Hold on, let me go ask Kim. Come inside and close the door."

I talked to Kim and she didn't have a problem at all. "Have fun getting sloshed guys," she yelled out really loud so the others would think that Sam and I were just gonna go for drinks.

Sam and I left right away on foot and ran back towards Disneyland. We used our highly tuned wolf senses to scent out Paul and Bella. It was really pretty easy. Bella smelled like the sweetest of strawberries and Paul, well, he smelled like a Hershey's milk chocolate bar. All we had to do was follow the smell of strawberries and chocolate and try not to walk into the nearest bakery.

Their scents led directly to the Grand Californian Resort and Spa. "Holy shit, this is a fancy place," Sam commented.

"Wow," I said, stunned at the grandeur of the place.

Their scents were strongest on the concierge level. There were fruit trays, deli meats, cheese, pastries, coffee, tea, sodas—all kinds of stuff laid out. My stomach growled and I heard Sam's do the same. We walked down the hallway and finally found their room. We could hear them talking inside.

"_Babe, we're going to a fucking spa after this. I need at least two massages and some yoga to get over all of the screaming brats in the park."_ Sam and I looked at each other, perplexed. Yoga and massages? Was that really Paul?

"_Oh, come on, Paul. It wasn't that bad. Besides, this is Disneyland. There are going to be kids everywhere."_

"_Yeah, well, I don't understand why they can't just make a separate section for kids and adults. You know, honey, forty is looking really good and so is the number one. We were both only children and we didn't turn out so bad, did we?"_

"_No, not at all,"_ Bella chuckled.

We decided to knock then, because if they were talking about kids there was obviously more to their relationship than just plain dating.

"_Who is it?"_ Paul called.

"It's us," I answered.

"_One second."_ Paul opened the door. "What do you guys want?"

"We wanted to talk to you, bro," Sam said. "We miss you."

"Come on in." Paul motioned to the biggest fucking hotel room I'd ever seen. There was a sofa, tv, dining table and it looked like there was a separate room for the bed. "Bella, you remember Jared and Sam from the reservation, don't you?"

"Yes, of course, it's nice to see you both again," Bella greeted. "Why don't you have a seat. Paul and I were just getting ready to order some room service. We're dead on our feet after today. Would you like to join us?"

"Uh, I don't think we can aff..." I started, but was interrupted by Paul.

"Don't worry about it. I've got this." He handed us a room service menu. My eyes gaped at the prices and so did Sam's. "Order whatever you want."

"Are you sure man? These prices are ridiculous. We can just grab some McDonald's or something."

"Nah, go ahead, it's nothing. Order up. It's no problem, really," Paul insisted.

"Thanks, I guess I'll have some soup," I said, looking at the cheapest thing on the menu. Twelve bucks for soup?

"Same here," Sam said, following my lead.

"That's fucking ridiculous. Baby, just call room service and order whatever—no soup, though."

"Got it," Bella chuckled, and went to place the call to room service. About a half an hour later, a crisp white linen table cloth was laid out on the table by an attendant and our food was served to us. The attendant was just standing to the side with a dishcloth laid across his arm.

"You can just leave the main dishes on the cart. We'll take care of it ourselves," Paul told him.

"Very well, Mr. Lahote, will you be calling me again when you're ready for your coffee and dessert, sir?"

"Yes, and can you deliver about a dozen bottles of Smithwick's immediately. I'd like chilled glasses as well." What the fuck is a Smithwick's? Chilled glasses?

"Yes, sir, right away," the attendant said before leaving the room.

"Dig in guys," Bella prompted. Holy fuck. I've never had food this fancy in my entire life. There were three different appetizers laid out on our plates plus a salad for each of us.

"What are these?" Sam asked, looking at the appetizers.

"Oh, um, the red raw fish is ahi tuna carpacchio, this is white shrimp wrapped in bacon, and some prosciutto and melon. The salad is mixed spring greens with candied pecans and raspberry vinaigrette," Bella explained.

"Oh," I said, not having any idea what the fuck I was eating, but damn—it sure tasted good.

Five minutes later, the room service attendant was back with whatever the hell Paul ordered. He laid out four chilled glasses and poured the Smithwick's for us. My question was answered. It was beer. Really awesome beer—nothing like the Bud Light I drank at home. As soon as we were done with the appetizers, Paul helped Bella serve us dinner.

There were two pieces of steak each on mine, Paul, and Sam's plates and some some salmon on Bella's. There were asparagus spears with some kind of sauce and a huge baked potato on separate dishes on the side for each of us. "Would you like some Bearnaise Sauce for your filet mignon?" Bella asked.

"Bear what?" Sam asked.

"Have some, it's good," Paul insisted and poured it all over our steak.

I took a bite of my steak and blurted out. "What the hell kind of steak is this? It's like completely juicy and tender."

"Fuck me this is good shit," Sam said in between bites. "I haven't had steak in ages, especially one this tasty. Scratch that, I've never had steak this good—ever!"

After we finished off our dinner, Paul called the attendant to come and clear the plates away and bring us dessert. He also ordered another dozen of those Smithwick's beers and fresh chilled glasses. He wheeled a cart to the table and gave us a choice. I ordered something called crème brulee—the guy torched the top of it with a mini flame thrower of some sort. I wonder if I could get one of those to scare my kids with when they don't listen to me?

We sat down and had our coffee and desserts when Sam finally asked the question of the hour, "So, how did you and Bella get together?"

Paul explained that he imprinted on her about a year and a half ago and that they'd been together ever since. Apparently, Bella literally bumped into Paul at a bar and he caught her—that's when he imprinted on her. It turned out that she only lived about ten minutes away from him. She's a nurse practitioner which, apparently, is a nurse that's almost like a doctor, but not quite. She had more schooling than Sue Clearwater-Swan who was a registered nurse at Forks General. Bella can even deliver babies because she has her midwife certification, too. Hell, after five kids, I'm pretty sure I can deliver a baby, too.

Paul and Bella are engaged and living together now in his house. That's where Charlie and Sue went to visit them last month. They didn't say anything to us because Paul and Bella asked them to keep quiet about their relationship.

"Wait, bro, so when I called you in Hawaii, you were with Bella, then?"

"Yeah, I was."

"Are you moving back to La Push now that you've imprinted?" I asked, hopefully.

"No, Bella and I have our home and careers in Phoenix."

"Well, shit, how the fuck are you planning on getting around this. Tribal law states that all Quileute children must be born on Quileute land for those who have a chance of shifting," I stated. "You're gonna have to tell them about the imprinting eventually, you know."

"First of all, I could care less what tribal law mandates. Second, Bella and I aren't planning on having kids anytime soon. We figure we could wait a good nine or ten years before we think about starting a family."

"Nine or ten years?" Sam and I both yelled out.

"Are you fucking with us? Jared and I will be grandfathers by then. Paul, you won't even be able to get your dick up, let alone make babies by that time," Sam argued. I don't know about Sam, but I planned on keeping my dick healthy enough to fuck Kim when I was in my forties.

"See, this is why I didn't tell you guys about the imprint, I don't need this shit. Bella and I have talked and we've set our ten year plan in motion. We know what we're doing."

"Yeah, but how the hell are you going to convince the elders to let you continue to live away from Quileute land after you've imprinted?"

"I'm not gonna convince them of anything. The fact is that the elders can't take our freedom to choose where we want to live away from us. They can just go fuck themselves."

Holy shit—this is gonna be a shitstorm.

"Bella, what do you think about all of this?" I asked.

"I agree with Paul, plus I'm not setting foot in Forks or La Push ever again."

"You do realize that Leah and Seth are your stepsister and stepbrother now, right?"

"Look, that's my father's family—they're wholly separate from me. He's a big boy and can do what he wants—just like I can do whatever I want. My father's only request was that I get to know Sue. I did that so he should be happy now."

"Bella, I know it's a little late, but I'm sorry for the whole Jake and Angela thing. I knew about it and I should have told you," I stated

"Don't be, I didn't really know you well back then, but I suspect that I wasn't your favorite person. You had no reason whatsoever to give me a heads up about Jake and Angela. Frankly, I could care less that they're together and I'm grateful that the whole fiasco happened. I learned what kind of people my 'friends' really were and I was forced to stand on my own two feet. I wouldn't have met Paul last year either. I'm happy with my life, Jared. I really am."

Well, what the fuck am I supposed to say to that? Bella Swan grew a backbone and she truly didn't give a fuck about Jake and Angela. I felt like a fool for bringing it up.

"Emily, really misses you, Bella. Would it be okay if I brought her by to see you?" Sam asked. Kim never really got to know Bella as anything, but the leech lover. When I think back to the past, I'm really ashamed. Most of the pack and their imprints were really cruel to Bella—except for Emily. She and Bella genuinely got along well. I remembered her bawling her eyes out because Bella had left right after graduation. Charlie hand delivered a goodbye letter to Emily from Bella. She was the only one, out of all of us, that Bella said goodbye to. Leah, who now wanted to get to know Bella because of her mom marrying Charlie, was going to have a tough time getting to know Bella. She was nothing, but a bitch to her. No wonder Bella kept her life separate from her father's.

"I'd like that, Sam. We're here for two more nights after tonight. Why don't you discuss it with Emily and we can figure something out. Tell her that I miss her, too."

"Okay, thanks, Bella," Sam said, smiling.

After a couple of hours, we headed back to our families. It was already one am. Paul drove us back in his rental car so we wouldn't have to walk.

"You really love her, don't you?" I asked while he was driving.

"More than my life. For the first time in my life, I have a purpose for living and Bella's it."

"She's changed," Sam remarked.

"Yeah, she has inner strength. She's not weak anymore. She doesn't take shit from anyone—especially from me."

"Hey, Paul, I have to ask you another question. It's kind of personal, though. How the hell can you and Bella afford all of this—the hotel, the car, the food?" I asked.

"Oh, well, we both do pretty well. Bella clears almost a hundred grand a year after taxes and I make a little more."

"More than a hundred grand a year from construction?" My jaw dropped. "Dude, Sam and I work construction and the work is seasonal. We average about thirty thousand a year when there's work. One year we made forty-one thousand working on a highway in Spokane, that was a good year."

"Uh, yeah, well, I own a construction business—I told you that."

"Well, shit, your business must be doing well."

"Yeah, our revenue was over a hundred million for the first time last year."

Sam and I both started gasping and choking. We stared at Paul, looking all stupid with our mouths gaping.

"Did you say million?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think it was something like a hundred and twenty-two million and some change." Paul said. Oh sure, some change is what Sam and I made per year when we were working. "You have to remember that's my company's revenue, not my personal income."

"Okay, so is your personal income more than a million dollars per year?" I asked.

"Definitely."

More than five million?"

"Usually."

"More than ten million?"

"Occasionally, it fluctuates."

"You're fucking buying dinner for me, Kim, Sam, and Emily tomorrow night, Rockefeller. I want some fancy shit too, like tonight."

"No problem," Paul chuckled as he pulled into the motel parking lot. "Dress sharp and meet us in our hotel lobby at eight pm."

"See ya later, bro," I said, hugging him. Sam hugged him too.

_**The next evening...**_

Rachel and Quil were watching both my kids and Sam's kids for us so we could go out with Paul and Bella. Kim was nervous as hell for some reason. When I asked her why, she said it was because she wasn't exactly friendly to Bella in the past.

"Kim, you met her a total of two times. I don't think she's going to hold anything that happened back then against you. You were in high school for God's sake and so was she."

"Still, I could have been nicer."

The four of us got to the hotel where we were meeting Paul and Bella. My wife took one look at Bella and became anxious again. "Oh my God, Jared. I feel so fat. Look at how perfect her body is."

"Kim, you've had five babies and you're still beautiful," I reassured. I kissed her imprint mark and pulled her close to me so she'd feel secure.

"Kim, Bella doesn't judge people by their looks—ever. She's always looked beyond the scar on my face," Emily stated. "Get to know her, I guarantee that you'll fall in love with her."

"Oh my God, we're all underdressed. Paul and Bella look like movie stars. Look at how nice their clothes are." Kim was flipping out.

"Shh..." I soothed, brushing my fingers on her mark, and she immediately calmed down.

Paul and Bella were waiting in the lobby for us. Emily couldn't contain herself and ran up to Bella to engulf her in a hug. "Oh, Bella, I missed you so much."

"I missed you, too, Em. I heard little Sammy's the spitting image of you, thank God."

"Amen to that," Sam chuckled. "I feel bad for Emma, though, she looks just like me."

"Poor girl," Paul smirked.

"Thanks, Bella, he's not so little anymore now. He's almost as tall as Sam is."

"Wow. Time sure flies, how old is he now?"

"He's thirteen along with Jared and Kim's, Ryan, and Quil and Rachel's, Number Six."

"I feel so old. Hi, I'm Bella, I don't know if you remember me?" Bella extended her hand out to Kim with a warm smile on her face.

"N...Nice to see you again," Kim stuttered nervously.

"Jared said that you have five kids, you look beautiful. How do you do it?"

Kim blushed about fifty different shades of red after hearing Bella compliment her. I think she warmed up to her a little more just then.

"Alright, well, I'm starved. You have a choice ladies, we can either dine here at Napa Rose or we can leave Disney and go to Morton's or Ruth's Chris. Your choice." Paul looked pointedly at the girls.

"Oh my goodness, I don't know a thing about those places—anywhere is fine, really."

"Okay, then, I pick. We're going to Morton's because they have huge portions," Paul decided.

We hopped into our beat-up minivan and followed Paul and Bella to the restaurant. Fuck me, I thought last night's room service was expensive, but this place was outrageous. Sixty bucks for a steak? Who comes up with these prices? Kim and Emily both gaped looking at the menu. Sam and I got over our shock last night. Our pack brother was a fucking multi-millionaire.

A waiter strolled up to the table with a cart and presented the different cuts of meat to us. He also told us they had lobster, Alaskan King Crab legs, and various types of fish. The waiter then turned to Kim and asked her what she wanted. "Um...uh...I'll take whatever is the cheapest."

"Don't be ridiculous, Kim," Bella said, "Do you like steak?"

"Y...y...yes, but everything is so expensive and I don't really know what anything is."

"Would you please come back in a couple of minutes?" Bella asked the waiter. "Leave the cart here, though."

"Yes, ma'am," he said and walked away.

"Don't worry about the price, Kim, we've got this. You've been raising five kids for the last thirteen years—I think you've earned a nice night out. Let us spoil you tonight. You, too, Emily." Bella smiled the most genuine smile I've ever seen in my life at our wives.

Kim smiled her first real smile this evening, too. I think she was relieved because Bella was so nice. "What are you ordering?"

"I'm getting a filet mignon, but I like leaner cuts of meat," Bella said. "Paul swears by the double porterhouse steak for two, but he likes having the flavorful fatty parts as well as the tender filet. He's also a glutton when it comes to steak."

"But that's a hundred and eighteen dollars!" Kim gasped.

"Kim, for tonight, don't worry about the cost," Paul assured. "You guys are our guests."

"Okay, then, I'll have what Bella's having because she probably has better taste than you do."

"That's the Kim I know," Paul chuckled. "So, what's everyone else having?"

"I'll have what Kim and Bella are having," Emily said.

"I'll do what you're doing," Sam stated. I nodded my head in agreement.

Paul called the waiter over and placed the order. He ordered a whole load of other stuff along with the steaks. I wish they'd hurry up with the food because I skipped lunch so I could eat like a king again.

**Emily's POV**

I was so happy to have Bella back in my life again. She and I had become very close friends before she left Forks and I missed her immensely. Before she left, she had written a letter explaining why she was leaving and how much she would miss our friendship. I understood completely—her already fragile heart took a beating when she caught Angela and Jacob in bed together. They should have just told her from the moment the imprint happened, Bella would have understood. Instead, they snuck behind her back for months, and to add injury to insult, they were nervy enough to show up to the senior prom together the evening after she found out about them. I still remember how absolutely hurt Bella was. She stopped talking to everyone at that point. She had three more weeks of school left so she kept her head together as best as she could, graduated from high school, then left Forks the same day. Charlie Swan was already dating Sue Clearwater by then. Sue said that she had never seen a more heartbroken man in her entire life than Charlie on the day that Bella said goodbye to him and to Forks.

I still wasn't over my shock of Paul having imprinted on Bella. He was the most violent and hot-tempered of the pack. Now he was sensitive and attentive to everyone, especially to Bella. It was obvious how in love with her he was by the way he couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of her. He paid attention to little things like pulling her chair out for her before she sat down at the table or moving a stray piece of hair that had fallen into her eyes behind her ear. They talked about taking Latin dancing classes together, yoga, and playing golf together. The two of them were inseparable. I was so happy for them both because they both had wretched pasts and they had worked very hard to achieve their goals.

Bella excused herself to use the ladies room. I went with her. While she was washing her hands, I decided to talk to her. "I'm so happy to see you again, Bella. I hope we'll stay in touch this time."

"Definitely. I missed you like crazy, Emily. There were so many times when I wanted to just pick up the phone and call you, but I stopped myself because I was trying to detach myself from the supernatural world. I guess I was meant to be part of the world anyway, huh?"

"It sure seems that way," I giggled. "So, I should probably tell you about what to expect with the imprint, shouldn't I?"

"Probably."

"Well, there's a thing called marking. It won't be for a few years yet, but when you're completely secure with Paul and you've both accepted the imprint—his wolf will take over and he'll instinctively bite you during his orgasm. Once that happens, he literally becomes a part of you. It's almost like he changes your DNA a little. You won't be able to have babies with anyone, but him; he'll sense and feel your emotions a bit more, and the other thing is that when and if he dies—you'll die with him. It also suppresses your aging each time he phases. We don't know too much about that part—most of the guys haven't shifted in a few years."

"That's better than any anti-aging product on the market. He's already marked me, though."

"Already? But, the imprint just happened last year."

"He bit me the first time that we had sex."

"Let me see." I took a look at Bella's neck and sure enough, there was a healed mark on her neck.

"You're soulmates, Bella. The legends say that a wolf who bites his imprint the first time they're together has found the lost part of his soul and is the most powerful and complete wolf of the pack. I'll research the legend a little more when I get back. I'm positive that I read about it once in the archives."

"Holy hell...that's some heavy stuff." Bella looked seriously at me, then. "If I sent you guys plane tickets, would you and Sam come and visit us? You can bring Sammy and Emma too."

"How about I leave Sammy and Emma with Kim and Jared and we come to see you? I can use a break from the kids. Between work and raising the kids, it's been non-stop for the two of us."

"Whatever you want, Emily. It's no problem either way." Bella and I hugged each other tight. It was obvious how much we both missed each other. I planned on keeping her in my life for good, now.

We went back to the table and there was a large plate of seafood sitting in the middle. "Appetizers," Bella commented. "Paul has a tendency to go overboard."

"Is that a lobster?" I was staring at the biggest lobster that I had ever seen in my entire life. It must have been at least six pounds.

"Yes, it would appear so. Those are Alaskan King Crab legs, shrimp cocktail, and oysters on the half shell."

"They're an aphrodisiac—they make you horny," Paul smirked.

"I don't need help getting horny, I'm always horny. I'd do Kim right here and now on the table if I could," Jared boasted. Yes, indeed, and he gets Kim pregnant each time too. As far as I was concerned, Jared didn't need any oysters at all.

"Sam, eat lots of oysters," I urged. He needed all the help he could get. He was usually too tired to have sex—it's been at least three weeks for me. Everyone started laughing.

When we finished the appetizer, dinner was served—literally. Our filet mignon was plated and presented to us, but for the double porterhouse for the men, oh my—the chef came out and carved it for the boys at the table. It was almost like we were royalty.

Bella ordered something called a Mojito with dinner. Kim and I ordered one, too.

"This is delicious!" Kim raved. "What's in it?"

"Rum, sugar, lime, mint leaves, and club soda—I think. I'm not sure if it's Sprite or club soda," Bella pondered.

I scanned the table after the chef left and I had never seen such a spread in my entire life. There were all sorts of side dishes for us to share in the middle of the table, too. I remembered being in shock when I first looked at the menu. When Sam and Jared told me and Kim that Paul was taking us out somewhere fancy for dinner, we thought we were going to Chili's or something. We weren't expecting something this extravagant. We nearly died of shock last night when the boys came back and told us about their dinner and what the prices were like on the menu. This was even pricier.

I knew that Kim was extremely nervous about meeting Bella. She never got to know her when Bella was living in Forks and she didn't exactly give Bella a warm reception back then. It was because Bella had dated a vampire and she wasn't an imprint. It also had a lot to do with immaturity—Kim was still in high school back then. Bella was kind to her from the outset and made sure that Kim was comfortable. That's what I liked best about Bella. She had a good heart.

A few minutes later, I was done. I couldn't eat another bite. Short of rolling me out of here, I had no idea how they planned on getting me out of this restaurant. There was still plenty of food left, too.

"You can take all of the leftovers back to your hotel with you for your kids," Bella said. "I saw some pretty big boys in your group yesterday. I'm sure they're always ravenous."

We all looked at Jared and he was still munching away. "Are you done with your steak?" he asked Bella. She nodded that she was. Jared reached over, stabbed his fork in Bella's steak, plopped it onto his plate, and started chewing away. "You know, Bella, I liked the double porterhouse, but this filet stuff is really good. This is the same cut of meat as I had last night, right?"

"Yes, but there was a filet portion attached to your double porterhouse too—it's where the short loin and the filet meet. I think you actually eat more than Paul does."

"I always have. I have a stronger sex drive than he does too."

"What the fuck does steak have to do with sex drive?" Paul asked.

"I don't know, it makes me horny. Besides, since you're not having kids for another nine or ten years, I'm trying to keep my mojo going so I can get Kim pregnant again around the same time—that way, our boys can grow up together."

"How do you know we'll be having a boy?"

"I just know."

"More importantly, how do you know if Kim will want to get pregnant?" Bella asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't she? I give her beautiful babies."

Kim and Bella rolled their eyes at an oblivious Jared.

A couple of minutes later, our table was cleared and the leftovers were packed away for us. The waiter strolled up to our table with a dessert cart. It's funny, I was stuffed to the hilt, but after seeing the delicious looking desserts, somehow my stomach magically made space for just one more thing.

We were in the middle of finishing our desserts, let me rephrase that—Jared was in the middle of finishing off everyone's desserts when Seth came striding up to our table looking haggard. We instantly looked up to him, concerned.

"Bella, we need you to come with us to the motel. Leah's water broke. When I called mom and mentioned that you were here, she said to find you. She usually does the delivery herself cause she's a registered nurse. Kyla and Angela are watching the kids."

"Why can't she just call maintenance at the motel? Bella can't help with plumbing," Paul said stupidly.

"Not that kind of water, you dumb fuck," Sam said with incredulity. "Her baby waters."

"Well, shouldn't she go to the hospital?"

"She can't, she's a shapeshifter."

"Oh shit," Bella said. "Paul, close out the check. How far apart are the contractions?"

"About five minutes apart when I left. I scented you guys out on foot. It took about a half an hour." Seth said while grabbing Bella's fork and digging into whatever Jared couldn't finish. "Hey, these are good—what are they?"

"Oh, this one's key lime pie, that's chocolate mousse, and this is crème brulee." Jared had suddenly become some sort of fancy dessert expert. Seth finished off the remaining desserts in no time and even downed the rest of our coffees.

The waiter immediately brought the bill to Paul. I peeked over and nearly died of shock. It was over fifteen hundred dollars. He didn't even bat an eyelash and just paid it and even left a three hundred dollar tip.

Just then, Bella's cell phone rang—it was Sue. Apparently, she was explaining the ins and outs of Leah's past labors. They weren't very pretty and required every shapeshifter to be in attendance because Leah was prone to violence during labor.

We rushed over to the motel. Bella ran in with her medical bag which, thankfully, was in her rental car. She washed her hands and immediately went to work. Leah was trying her best to breathe through the contractions, but they were coming one on top of another.

"I need as many clean towels as you can gather up," Bella ordered.

"I'll get them," Jessica said.

Bella did a quick examination of Leah. "You're about nine centimeters dilated, you have one more to go. Try to breathe through them."

"What?" Leah angrily kicked Quil, who happened to be standing in the line of fire, in the gut.

"Fuck!" Quil groaned. "I think you broke my ribs!"

Bella went to check on Quil and sure enough, he had two fractured ribs. "Paul grab the medical tape out of my bag." He handed her the tape immediately. "Stay still while you heal. I know you heal faster than a normal human."

She went back to check on Leah. "Okay, you're ready to push. Leah, I need you to reach down, grab behind your thighs and pull them back as you bear down."

"I can't," Leah sobbed.

"Yes you can, this is your fourth baby," Bella said, firmly.

"The guys usually hold my legs up for me," Leah stated. They all groaned.

"Leah, look at me. It's easier if you position yourself to push."

"No!" Leah shouted, stubbornly, gritting her teeth. "Noooooo!"

Bella sighed, "Okay, I need two guys to volunteer to hold Leah's legs up while she pushes."

The guys all looked down. Each time Leah gave birth, it resulted in our men having broken bones. Sue Clearwater was becoming an expert in resetting shapeshifter bones.

"Paul take the left thigh, Jared take the right," Bella ordered. They groaned and took their positions.

"What the fuck is that thing sticking out of her pussy?" Paul asked, horrified.

"That's the baby's head—it's crowning."

"Oh, man! Bella! I swear to God, you'd better be keeping up with those birth control pills. I can't handle this shit!"

Eric was standing beside Leah and trying to keep her calm. He couldn't help down below because he'd probably end up dead if Leah kicked him.

"Okay, Leah, after the next contraction, take in a deep breath, push while you exhale in counts of ten." The next contraction subsided and Bella started counting, "One...two...three...four...five...no, don't stop...push...push...that's right, you're doing good."

"Same thing, next contraction. Deep breath..push...push...three...four... five..." This cycle continued for the next ten minutes.

"Aaaagh!" Leah yelped, kicked, and down went Paul and Jared. Sam and Embry assumed their positions next. Kim and I stood on the sides and helped Bella count. Jessica walked in with Rachel—both of them carrying a bundle of clean towels.

"We broke into the motel linen closet and grabbed these," Rachel stated.

"Okay, stand by with those. Deep breath, Leah, push...good...good...okay, the head's almost out, keep pushing...push...push...push...short blows...Leah..." Bella showed her what to do. Kim, Rachel, and I blew short breaths out of our mouths to help guide her.

"Nooooo!" Leah thrashed and punched Eric in the face. He was knocked unconscious immediately. "You get up you fucking bastard! You did this to me! Get your fucking ass up now! Hey! I'm talking to you, fucker, can't you see that I'm in pain?"

Leah kicked out violently with her legs. Sam landed against the wall while Embry ended up on the floor. Bella was chuckling. "Next victims!" she called out. Jake and Seth took their places. They looked terrified.

"Leah, you need to calm down. The baby is almost out. After the next contraction, I want you to keep pushing until I tell you to stop, okay?"

"No, I can't, it hurts," Leah started crying.

"I know, honey, it's almost over. Breathe and push...push..."

We all started encouraging Leah by counting. Leah kicked Jake twice in the face with both feet, causing him to bleed. I'm more than positive that she kicked him on purpose. Poor Seth was left standing. My husband, the trooper, got up and grabbed Leah's other leg.

"Blow...Leah...blow..." Bella encouraged. "And, don't kick, no matter what. Keep blowing." She had a solid hold on the baby's head and was gently helping to guide the shoulders out. "Emily, I need the bulb syringe from my bag."

I grabbed it for her. By profession, I was a medical assistant so I knew what all of the equipment in her bag was.

"Okay, deep breath, Leah...one more push...push...push..."

Suddenly, with a gigantic roar and a kick to both Sam and Seth's shoulders that sent them flying across the room, Leah pushed the baby out. Bella gently cradled the baby then asked for a clean towel which Jessica promptly handed to her. She cleaned the baby up, then asked me for the erythromycin drops from her bag. After administering the drops and injecting the baby with vitamin K, she placed the baby on Leah's chest and encouraged her to breastfeed because it would help expel the placenta. Leah did as she was told and the placenta was delivered in no time. Bella checked it over and by now a bleeding, moaning, but coherent and grinning Eric made his way over to cut the cord.

Leah continued to nurse the baby while Bella cleaned her up and checked to make sure everything was in working order. "I need someone to run to a drugstore and grab more medical tape for me, a couple of packs of sanitary napkins—the heaviest absorbency that you can find, newborn diapers, baby wipes, vaseline, and gauze." She looked around and all of the shifters were writhing in pain on the floor having been power kicked by Leah.

"I'll go," Rachel offered and left right away. She returned after a half an hour with a bag full of supplies, and snacks and drinks for everyone. By then, Bella was working on the boys.

Paul had a broken rib and a dislocated shoulder, Jared had just one broken rib, Embry had a fractured finger along with a broken wrist, Seth had a dislocated shoulder, Jake had a broken nose, two black eyes, and a dislocated shoulder, while Sam had a dislocated shoulder, two fractured ribs, and a black eye. The only human to get injured, Eric, had a black eye and required stitches for a cut along his hairline caused by him falling into an end table when Leah punched him.

By the time Bella was finished patching everyone up, it was already close to two am. "My goodness, this was certainly an experience I'll never forget. I felt like I was working in a trauma center. Okay, I think Paul and I can go now. I'll be back sometime tomorrow to check on everyone."

With that, Paul and Bella left to go back to their hotel. We all wished Leah well and left for our rooms soon after. Sam put his arm around me and gave me a kiss on the lips. We opened the door to our room and our kids were sleeping. Sammy was sleeping in the middle of one bed while Emma had the other. I guess it was back to reality for us—we both sighed and climbed into the kids' sleeping bags and took the floor. I guess that dinner was the end of my being treated like a princess.

**Well, heck, now the pack owes Bella one, and a big one at that. What did you think of Jacob's reaction at finding out about Bella and Paul? Do you think Emily was correct about the whole soulmate thing? How do you think the tribal council will react? Did Leah kick Jacob twice on purpose? Let me know your thoughts on this chapter. I'd love to hear from you and I promise to respond to your reviews. XOXO mama4dukes**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for your reviews, messages, faves, and alerts. I'm glad that you're enjoying the Paul that I've created. I hope I'm doing him justice.**

**This story is AU/OOC. **

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Paul's POV**

Why Taha Aki? Why? Why are you getting my imprint all messed up in the bullshit that's the pack? While I was happy to see Jared and Sam again, I wasn't happy to see Jake. I nearly phased in the middle of fucking Disneyland for God's sake. Then add to it the fuckery of Leah delivering her baby in the middle of a Motel 6 in Anaheim, California and Bella having to help. Leah Clearwater didn't deserve my Bella's help. I remembered how she treated her like shit when Bella was still in Forks. My future wife has a big heart though and last night she was completely professional and had her medical head on straight. The pack had no idea how lucky they were to have her there to help.

The other thing bothering me was the bullshit about me having to live on the reservation now that I've imprinted. Like hell that was going to happen. I left the reservation to make a life for myself and there was no way in hell they were going to order me around like some lackey. I also didn't plan on raising my kid there. There's a reason why Bella and I live in my house in Paradise Valley rather than in her house in Camelback East—the school system is much better there. We both wanted our kid to have a good education.

I don't know, maybe it's the fact that I'm older and I've experienced life; maybe it's the fact that I see the value of a good education; maybe it's the fact that I grew up with parents who simply didn't give a fuck about my future—the fact is that I, Paul Lahote, do give a fuck about my yet to be conceived child and I knew that I was capable of giving him or her more opportunities than the reservation or Forks could ever offer and so did Bella. There was no way in hell that I was going to hold my own kid back and I wasn't about to move back to a place just because of some fucking tribal order. I knew that there was trouble coming by way of the elders and I was ready to fight for my sake, for Bella, and for our future child.

It was nine am and Bella was still knocked out—completely exhausted by last night's events. She fell asleep during the short car ride between the motel and our hotel. I carried her up to our room and put her to bed because I knew that she was stressing just as much as I was about running into the pack. I decided to order some room service for breakfast so it would be ready for her when she finally woke up.

About a half an hour later, right after room service was delivered—Bella finally strolled out of the bedroom. "Mmm...that smells wonderful," she said, giving me a kiss on the lips.

"Dig in, baby," I urged as I poured some coffee for her.

"I am completely wiped out today. Last night was ridiculous. Let me check your rib and shoulder before you eat, hon."

"Aw, Bella, I'm hungry. Can't I at least drink my coffee?"

"It'll take three minutes tops. I promise." Bella checked that both my rib and shoulder were in working order. "Amazing. You're completely knitted together. Did you carry me upstairs and put me to bed last night?"

"Yep."

"When you had injuries?"

"I was fine, besides you were completely zonked out and you needed your sleep."

"You're too good to me, Paul." Bella eyes met mine. I could get lost in those beautiful eyes.

"I could say the same about you, baby." I put her on my lap and kissed her. Before I knew it, our breakfast was completely forgotten and I was buried to the hilt inside of her. Fuck food—I needed Bella now. She was moaning deliriously as I thrust my dick in and out of her. She moved her hand down to her nub and started rubbing it like furiously. "That's it baby, play with your clit while I fuck you. I want to feel you cum all over my cock."

Suddenly, she flipped me onto my back and she started riding me cowgirl style. Oh, yes, daddy like—damn those tits look perfect bouncing up and down like that. She continued playing with her clit and before I knew it, she had collapsed onto me and we were both cumming together and my wolf took over. I marked her—again. What the hell? I don't know of any wolves that have bitten their imprints twice. What the fuck is wrong with me? Shit!

"Sorry, baby. I know that hurt," I apologized as I licked her bite to help soothe it.

"Mmm...keep doing that—that feels good."

I held her tight to my body. I didn't want to let go of her ever. I secured her to my chest and we fell asleep. A couple of hours later, there was a knock on our door.

"Dude, open up! I can smell you both in there."

I threw a hotel robe on and opened the door to a grinning Embry and Quil. They saw the now cold breakfast spread on the dining table and helped themselves. Fine by me. I liked my food hot. At least it wasn't going to waste. The food was gone within minutes.

"Is this all you have?" Quil asked.

"Uh, no, we were just about to get some lunch."

"Oh, good. I'm starved."

What the fuck? Did the little shit just invite himself to lunch? I guess so.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" I asked.

"We're just getting away from the baby action back at the motel. We're going back to Disney in a couple of hours. We thought we'd visit you."

Bella strode out into the living room wearing a matching terry cloth robe. They were provided by the hotel so naturally they had Mickey Mouse embroidered on the front.

The two idiots started guffawing when they saw Bella. "What are you two? The bobsy twins? What's with the matching Mickey Mouse robes?" Embry laughed as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "This coffee's cold—in fact, the whole breakfast is cold, you should chew the hotel out, man."

"Babe, Quil and Embry just invited themselves to come to lunch with us."

"Yeah, you don't mind, do you? Nice rack." Quil smacked his lips and peered into her cleavage. I growled at him.

Bella pulled her robe closed tight. "Um, no, it'd be great to catch up. Let me just get dressed, I'll check your injuries, and we can leave." She walked back into the bedroom with me following.

"Don't ask," I mouthed.

"Wasn't about to."

The two of us quickly got dressed, then Bella checked their injuries. We decided to just eat at one of the restaurant's downstairs. Quil and Embry didn't care where we ate, they were just hungry. They each ordered a whole mess of food and had margarita after margarita before the food even arrived.

"So, Bella," Embry started, "Jessica wants to hang out with you."

Uh-huh, so this is what this was all about.

"So does Rachel," Quil piped in. Okay, now Rachel I could understand. She and Bella have known each other since they were babies.

"That's nice, Embry, but I don't really know Jessica that well. We hung out together in big groups a couple of times during high school, but other than that..."

"She really wants to hang out with you, Bella. Give her a chance, will ya?"

"Um, sure. What's she been up to?"

"Well, as you know, she was married to Mike Newton until she caught him in bed with her ex-best friend, Lauren."

Bella's eyes bulged. "You mean Lauren Mallory—the walking whore house of Forks?"

"Yeah, that would be her."

"It turns out that Lauren and Mike had been sleeping together since high school."

"Oh, poor Jessica."

"In fact, she found out that both of Lauren's fatherless kids were Mike's. The worst thing is, they had both been her students at the elementary school in Forks."

This shit's like a fucking soap opera. I should write this fuckery down and sell it to a Hollywood studio. I'd make millions doing it.

"Do Jessica and Mike have any kids?"

"No, that's the thing, she and Mike had been trying to have babies throughout their seven year marriage and she could never get pregnant. Anyway, after her divorce, she applied for a new position teaching at the reservation. Last year, the La Push Tribal School hired us to rewire the entire building—that's when I imprinted on her."

"Quil and Embry are both master electricians. They have a business together," I explained. "Actually, I think they're two of only three electricians in the area."

"Wow," Bella said to Embry. "I feel bad for Jessica about Mike, but I'm glad she met you. What grade does she teach?"

"Well, you know how the schools on the reservation work—you have the same teacher for two years in a row. So, she teaches fifth and sixth grade. Right after, they have Rachel who teaches seventh and eighth grade."

"The same teacher for two years in a row? I've never heard of such a thing. It must be nice, though, because you'd really get to know your students on a personal level."

"Rachel says it's okay, but you can get sick of the same students too," Quil said. "You'll find out yourself once you have kids and live on the reservation."

"That's not happening," I stated. "Bella and I are staying put in Arizona. Besides, our house is in a really good school district."

"I don't blame you, man. Once you have babies, keep your family away from the reservation. There are families that do well—like mine and Rachel's or Embry and Jessica's, but most of the families are living on the fringes. Unemployment's at seventy percent most of the time if you take seasonal workers like the fishermen and construction workers into consideration. The health clinic hasn't been able to get a full time doctor in there for ten years. The poverty is out of control there—just be careful of the tribal council, man. Remember that the Quileutes's are a sovereign nation within the United States. It might help you to keep in mind that a sovereign nation operates under the jurisdiction of the United States government, which is supreme law."

"Why are you telling me this, man?" I asked.

"Now that Jake knows about you and Bella—shit's gonna go down. He's a traditionalist. He's not on the council, but his dad is and so is my grandfather. I tried to leave a few years back, but I couldn't. It doesn't matter, though, if Jake is eventually going to be a tribal elder so am I. That puts us all on a level playing field. Jake also forgets that Rachel has as much right to the council as he does—she has a college degree too, we're prepared to pull that card if necessary. Oh, and Billy hasn't been happy with Jake for a long time."

"What do you and Rachel want out of this?"

"We have three kids—they deserve to have a better education than the one provided by the tribal schools. Hardly any of the kids go to college. You, Seth, Rachel, and Sue Clearwater-Swan are some of the few that did go. My kids are all going—they know that they don't have a choice in the matter. Embry and I are two of the lucky ones that have associate's degrees. Jessica and Eric have degrees and Emily went to trade school, but that's only because they're not from the reservation. Had they been raised there—things would have been very different."

Shit, I'd better find a lawyer that specializes in constitutional law. It shouldn't be a problem though, I've been hitting the links with a lot of politicos trying to muster up a contract with the state of Arizona for the reworking of the highway system. It would be worth an estimated twelve billion dollars, probably more if we took inflation over five years into consideration. I still have to rework the numbers. My personal income was generally about ten percent of the value of the contract—which would leave Bella and I set for life. I'm only thirty-one, though, so I didn't plan on retiring anytime soon. If my kid didn't see me working he'd think that he didn't have to work for anything in life.

"One more thing," Quil said. "If I were you, I'd get married as soon as possible, and not on tribal land. The first thing they'll try to do is order you to get married in La Push—that way, they can indoctrinate Bella as a member of the tribe, therefore making all of your kids full members of the tribe. Rachel and I were both already full tribal members so it wouldn't have mattered anyway, but in your case—Bella's not and neither is Charlie so the laws won't be able to extend over her. Embry and Jessica ran to Vegas and eloped before the elders could give them a direct order."

"Wait. How come Charlie's not a tribal member?"

"Sue and Charlie got married in Reno," Bella informed me. "They didn't want to have a big ceremony because it was the second marriage for both of them."

Well, fuck L.A. I think we'll be flying to Vegas tomorrow as soon as we check out. Time to make Miss Bella Swan, Mrs. Paul Lahote.

The waitress delivered the check and Embry took care of it. I tried to protest, but he said that he and Jessica were dual income no kids for the time being and they had more than enough in the bank to treat us to lunch. We thanked him—it was nice to be treated for a change. Bella asked if they'd like to join us for dinner with their wives. Both of them gladly accepted and said they'd meet us at Ruth's Chris Steak House at 9 pm. The steakhouse was my idea.

After they left, Bella turned to me. "Paul—I'm putting my foot down. If we're having steak again tonight, I want you to have filet mignon—it's leaner. You're going to turn into a giant ball of cholesterol."

"How about if I have a salad for appetizer?" Bella raised an eyebrow. "Babe, don't look at me like that. Besides, if I don't have the porterhouse how am I going to compare whether Ruth's Chris has better steak than Morton's?"

"You and your steak," Bella sighed, resigned. "And you know damn well that you've been to both restaurants before."

"Yeah? Well not in Anaheim. Oh and you look me straight in the eyes and tell me that you're not going to have steak tonight?"

"Of course I'm gonna have steak—how am I going to compare between the two steakhouses?"

"My point exactly, now I have a proposition for you. What do you think about forgoing our trip to Los Angeles and flying to Vegas to get married?"

"You mean and not have a high-falutin' wedding? I think I fell more in love with you just now."

"That's my girl. Keep it from the pack, though—okay? You heard what Quil said."

"Mum's the word," she said and reached up for a kiss. I could never deny those lips of hers.

Bella wanted to pick up some necessities for Leah's new baby before going to check up on them so we drove to a nearby Target. We looked for a Babies R Us, but the nearest one was about an hour away and we still wanted to hit Disneyland again. After purchasing a ton of shit that neither of us had any idea even existed, we headed over to the Motel 6. Eric answered the door. I asked him to come and help me unload the stuff while Bella checked on Leah. Bella was done by the time we came back in.

"What's all of this?" Leah asked.

"Oh, well, we thought that you might be missing some baby essentials here since you weren't expecting the baby for another three weeks," Bella stated.

"Thank you. We have all of this at home from the other three, but it would be nice for this one to have some new things—especially since this is our first girl. Eric was going to run out and pick up a car seat, but you two took care of that, too—thank you, thank you for everything."

"Thank you," Eric agreed. "Especially you, Bella, we don't know what we would have done without you."

"No problem—it's what I'm trained to do. Well, let me check on the baby, then Paul and I will get out of your hair. What did you name her?"

Leah looked up sheepishly at the both of us. "Isabella Paulette Clearwater Yorkie."

"I'm so honored."

"So am I. Thank you," I said.

"No, we're honored. If you two didn't happen to be here, we would have been up shit creek. We knew that we were cutting it close coming to Disney so close to the due date, but we wanted to take the other three to see Mickey Mouse so we risked it. Thank God you were both here."

"Well, the baby is nice and healthy. I'm sure you both know all about cord care and what not, right?"

"Yes," Eric replied. "Is there anything else we should know since this is our first girl?"

"Um, well, just with girls especially—when you're changing them, you need to make sure that you wipe from front to back. They're more prone to yeast infections. How often are you feeding her?"

"Oh, about every two to three hours?" Leah said.

"Okay, well keep that up for the next two weeks, then try to feed her less during the night so you can get more sleep. I think it would help if Eric actually got up and brought you the baby to feed then returned her to the bassinet for you. Paul maybe you can set up the portable playpen for them, it has a bassinet insert."

"Which one's that?" I asked. I had no idea what was what.

"I can get it, I'm an old pro at baby equipment by now," Eric chuckled then turned to me and asked. "So, when are you two going to start a family?"

"Not for a few years yet. We aren't even married yet. We're both at the peak of our careers and we want to make sure that we can give our baby all of the time and attention it deserves."

Leah shook her head wildly and bulged her eyes out. "What happened to Paul Lahote and where can I find another one?"

"Alright, well, we're gonna get going. Call me or Bella if you need anything. We'll be leaving this area tomorrow—when are you heading back to Washington?"

"Tomorrow. Twenty-one hours on the road. We're thinking of breaking the trip up into three days instead of two for the baby's sake, though," Leah explained.

I kind of felt bad. Here Bella and I only lived five hours away and we flew in because we thought five hours was a long drive. They had to drive for twenty-one hours—with kids. Yikes.

"I think that's a good idea. I would even break it up into four days if you could. Make frequent stops. You might want to see if the others will take your other three home with them because I think it'll be hard on them to have to sit with the baby for that long. You want to keep their sleep schedule as stable as possible," Bella suggested. "I also want you to sit on a pillow on the car ride back, Leah."

"Okay, we will and, um, Bella?" My imprint looked at Leah to acknowledge her. "Would you mind if I called you sometime after we get back? We are sort of related now with our parents being married to each other."

"Sure, no problem. I'm usually home from work by six or seven pm. Saturday's are bad because Paul and I are usually in and out trying to get home errand's done, but any other day is fine."

"Thanks, Bella."

"You're welcome."

"Oh, and thanks for kicking Jacob in the nose twice while you were in labor, Leah." I smirked at her, and she gave me a huge grin and a wink back. I knew that those kicks to Jacob were done on purpose, they were too well placed to be done while in complete agony.

We left the Yorkie's and walked down the hall towards our car. We heard an argument coming from Kim and Jared's room.

"_What do you mean we only have seventy-eight bucks left? That's not enough to feed the kids and get us home, Jared."_ We both overheard Kim saying to her husband. _"Are you saying that the kids can't __go to Disneyland today?"_

"_Kim, it hasn't been easy. I told you we should have postponed this trip. With me being unable to find work it's been rough."_ Jared argued. _"Sam and Emily are in the same predicament. The area is depressed, there just aren't any construction jobs right now."_

Bella yanked me into the lobby and whispered so we wouldn't be overheard, "You have to do something, Paul."

"No shit, you don't think I'm thinking that? Neither Sam nor Jared mentioned their job situations to me. The thing is, I can't hire Jared because he doesn't even have his GED. I have a strict rule that I only hire people who have earned at least their GED or a high school diploma—even then, I prefer it if they've gone to tech school or earned a degree."

"Well, can you hire Kim?"

"She doesn't have one either. She works the register at the trading post in La Push for twenty cents above minimum wage."

"How the fuck can this be allowed, Paul? I can't believe that they even got this far without at least a GED. You know, it pisses me off how the tribe used you guys for protection, forced their ridiculous laws on you—designed to keep you in La Push, and yet did nothing to ensure your futures."

"Baby, you're right and I'll figure something out. I swear to God, I will. Just let me give Jared and Sam some cash so they can get home for now and then we'll brainstorm once we get back to Phoenix."

I looked at my imprint and she had tears in her eyes. I pulled her into my chest to hold her. It wasn't really her problem, but she had a big heart and it hurt her to think of others hurting.

"Shh...I've got you, babe. I'll make it better for them, I promise," I soothed, trying to calm her.

We drove to a branch of our bank in Anaheim and had two prepaid Visa debit cards issued for ten thousand dollars each. We, then, drove to Walmart and purchased two gift cards for a thousand dollars each. I stopped to gas up at a Shell Station and bought two five hundred dollar gas cards there, too. We drove back to the Motel 6 where the pack was staying, I could smell that most of the group had left—probably for Disneyland. Actually, aside from Leah and Eric who were in their room with their baby, Jared's family and Sam's family were the only ones left—they were hanging out in the same room watching TV.

I knocked on Jared's door. "Hey, bro, nice of you to stop by!"

"Hey, I need to talk to you and Sam," I said, motioning them outside.

"Sure. Sam, it's Paul! He needs to talk to us."

"I'll go and hang out with Kim and Emily," Bella said. I winked at her and kissed her on her cheek.

"Let's go for a quick drive," I suggested.

"Alright. We'll be back in a bit," Sam told the girls.

When we got in the car, Jared asked, "What's up?"

"Look, I don't know how to put this, but Bella and I overheard you and Kim talking today when she was checking on Leah and the baby. How come you two didn't tell me about your job situations?"

They both looked down and didn't answer so I spoke again. "Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You both know that I know what it's like to go without. So does Bella—her mom was on food stamps on and off when she was growing up. For fuck's sake, my mom was on welfare my entire life and we lived off of food stamps and welfare checks. During college, there were times when I was so poor that I'd have to phase and go after animals just so I could eat. I've been there, but the thing is—it was only me. You have your wives and your kids to worry about."

"It's just that there are no jobs around Forks or La Push," Jared argued.

"I know that man, but right now you need help. Kim's right, seventy-eight bucks isn't going to get you anywhere and you really should take those little ones of yours to Disneyland. You have the tickets, right?"

"Yeah, but no spending money for when we get in there."

"Just hear me out. Bella and I want to help by..."

I was interrupted by Sam, "We're not charity cases."

"No, you're not and I know you both work hard, but sometimes we all need a helping hand. I wouldn't have my company now if it weren't for the kind bank owner that overlooked the fact that I had absolutely no credit and a hundred and twenty-three bucks in my account, yet still loaned me the capital to start my business solely based on the vision I had for my business. I'm going to look into finding construction jobs for both of you when I get back to Phoenix. For now, though, take these." I handed both of them envelopes with the debit card and gift cards inside.

"This is too much," Jared said after looking inside. He tried to hand the envelope back to me.

"No, it isn't. I bet you're behind on your bills too. You have five kids, Jared. You and I both know what it's like to grow up poor—it's not fair to the kids. You know damn well that they're hurting and not telling you. Besides, how many times did your parents feed me because my mom traded in all of her food stamps for alcohol? It's my turn to help you out."

Sam, then, tried to return his envelope to me. "Oh, you've got to take your shit up with Bella. Do you want to hurt her feelings? She doesn't want to see Emily or the kids hurting."

I know I shouldn't have pulled that card, but I did because they were both being so stubborn.

Sam sighed, "Thank you, Paul. This will really help a lot."

Jared actually had watery eyes when he thanked me.

"Alright, so why don't we all hit Disneyland together? Then we're going out to dinner at 9 pm—just the adults. What do you say?"

"Sounds great. More steak?" Jared asked.

"Yep, I'll catch hell from Bella later about the cholesterol, but we're doing some more of that double porterhouse tonight."

"You're a great friend, Paul."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "Thank you."

I drove back to the motel. They rounded up their wives and kids and we all headed to Disneyland together. When we got to the main gate, I purchased 'fast passes' for everyone so we could just zip onto the rides. Once inside, Ryan and Sammy kept asking for their photos to be taken with Bella. I snapped one of them with an oblivious Bella smiling for the camera with Ryan and Sammy standing on either side of her wide-eyed and ogling her tits.

"Sorry, man," Jared said. "They're both thirteen and hormonal."

"Uh, Bella, I have a school dance coming up in May. Would you go with me?" Ryan asked.

"Honey, I'm older than your mother is," Bella replied, nicely.

"That's okay, chicks dig me."

"You're a bit too young for me."

"I'm a month older than Ryan is and I can totally do cougar," Sammy piped in.

"Sweetie, you really should find a nice girl your age. I prefer to date guys that can drive at the very least plus I'm engaged to your Uncle Paul."

"I can drive! Yep, just ask Uncle Seth. He knows I can drive."

"Legally," Bella said, spiraling both lovestruck teens into abject dejection. We left Disneyland at 8 pm after going on a ton of rides, feeding the kids, and buying them a load of souvenirs. Their parents thanked us gratefully because it was something that they, themselves, couldn't afford to do. Bella and I just wanted the kids to have a memorable experience at Disneyland because it was something that we as kids never had the opportunity to do.

We rushed back to our hotel to shower and get dressed for tonight's dinner. We threw a quickie in there too because, damn it, my dick got hard whenever I saw Bella naked. At exactly 9:10 pm, ten minutes after our planned meeting time, we arrived at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Everyone was waiting for us.

"What the hell? Were you guys fucking? I'm starved," Quil complained.

"You and your mouth," Rachel chastised.

"What? I can smell the sex on both of them."

"Well, you don't have to point it out!"

We walked in and were immediately seated at the reserved table being held for us. When the waiter came to take our order, Sam and Jared immediately ordered a Porterhouse Steak for Two each. Bella narrowed her eyes at me, but I ignored her and ordered the same. Not to be outdone, Quil and Embry ordered the same thing with Jessica chewing us all out about cholesterol and fat content. Bella smiled triumphantly as the five of us were forced into ordering salads to accompany our dinners. The girls each ordered their filets—I threw in side dishes and appetizers for everyone and we were ready to start enjoying the evening.

"So, Bella, it's been awhile," Jessica said.

"Yeah, it has. What have you been up to since high school graduation? You went to Whitman College, right?"

"Where's that?" I asked.

"Oh, it's in Walla Walla, Washington about four hundred miles southeast of Forks."

"So, it must be near Oregon, then?"

"Yes, it's actually right on the border. If you guys like wine, you should visit—they have wineries there and the famous Walla Walla Onion is from there."

"Ooh! That onion sounds interesting. I wonder if it's like the Maui Onion," Bella mused. When we went to Hawaii last year, I had to carry a twenty pound sack of Maui Onions home for my gourmet wife. I couldn't say anything because I actually had to buy an extra suitcase just for the Kona Coffee.

"Where did you go to school?" Rachel asked.

"I went to the University of Miami for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees."

"Wow, so you went straight through?"

"Yes, my goal was to be a nurse practitioner and midwife from the beginning, and for that I needed a master's degree. You went to the University of Hawaii, right?"

"You remembered!" Rachel said, excitedly.

"Of course—it's beautiful there, Paul and I were just there this summer."

"Really? Did you stay in Waikiki?"

"Yeah, at the Halekulani," I replied.

"Fancy—that's a nice hotel."

"We liked it—our room led directly out to the beach. We want to retire there."

"So do Quil and I. One day, it'll happen—we've been saving up for our retirement for years now plus our kids' college educations."

Rachel was so different from Jacob. While Jacob's life was tied to the reservation, Rachel always knew there was more out there. As soon as she graduated from high school, she went to the University of Hawaii with her father's blessing. When Quil imprinted on her, she accepted the imprint immediately, but she refused to drop out of college. Rachel only had a semester of school left and Quil was still a junior in high school. She went back to school, but found out that she was pregnant with Number Six. She hid it from everyone, knowing that they'd force her back to La Push, graduated from college, then returned to La Push to have the baby.

It was around that time that I destroyed the red-headed bloodsucker that was going after Bella. When I think about it now, I was completely obsessed with finding her, ripping her apart, and torching her. I didn't even like Bella then, but I was hellbent on keeping her safe. I wonder if I felt some strange cosmic connection to her way back then.

After Quil graduated from high school, Rachel, who was hired to teach at a public school in Port Angeles forced him to attend the community college there to earn, at least, his associate's degree. She went against tribal order and refused to marry him or live on the reservation unless he had the means to support her and Number Six. Embry went with him because he thought it was a good idea. Two years later, they had associate's degrees and their electrician's certification and they started their own business out of a beat up red truck formerly owned by Bella Swan. Charlie Swan gave it to them in exchange for a few electrical repairs in his house.

Three years after that, I finally graduated from college. I had a job lined up as an entry level bridge engineer in Seattle. I lucked out when I found a design flaw in the suspension system that would have resulted in the bridge collapsing that no one else was able to detect. After that, I was given a promotion and was transferred to the Phoenix office. I stayed in that position for about six months, but I wanted more. I decided to start my own construction business. I went to a small local bank where I still keep my business account and talked to the bank owner. Somehow, without any collateral except for a 1994 Ford F-150, the owner had faith in the vision of my business. He gave me a loan and I started my business. He gave me some good advice too,_ "In your line of work, if you want to make it big—you need to learn how to play golf and tennis. The golf course and the tennis courts are where the big deals are made. If you stop by tomorrow, I'll give you a set of my old golf clubs." _

I took his advice and, for the first time in my life, I learned how to play a sport—two in fact. Nine months later, while working on a new home construction in Paradise Valley, the owner of the house invited me for a round of golf. While golfing, he probed me on what I could and couldn't do. I told him that my background was in civil engineering with a strong knowledge of building technology. I also mentioned the design flaw that I had found in the suspension bridge in Seattle. The Monday after the round of golf, I received a call from the mayor of Tempe, Arizona. He asked me to look at some blueprints of the city's drainage system. I went, of course. It turned out that the man I golfed with was the mayor of Paradise Valley and he recommended my services to his friend, the mayor of Tempe. He asked me to submit a proposal by Friday. I worked like a possessed man on it and kept the costs low by figuring that I'd take only ten percent of the contractual value for my personal income—most owners of companies like mine skim off about thirty percent for themselves, sometimes even fifty. I was hired, of course. The Tempe mayor was impressed with my work and before I knew it—I was golfing with political types all over the state of Arizona. A city councilman buddy of mine suggested that I incorporate the phrase Engineering Design into the name of my company because I'd attract more business then. That's how Lahote Engineering Design Concepts and Construction was born.

I peered across the table to Sam and Jared and felt bad for them. They had the same upbringing as I did, hell mine was worse—at least they had loving parents, yet they were stuck in the same cycle of poverty brought on by having no education and having their kids too young. Sam and Emily, at least, stopped at two, but I don't think Jared and Kim used any birth control at all. I know she's pregnant again because with my enhanced hearing, I could hear a second heartbeat inside of her. Unfortunately, the tribe will just enable her by being overjoyed that a new Quileute was being born then not doing a god damned thing to get them out of their endless financial rut. It pissed me off to no end.

Bella eyed me pensively from where she was sitting between Emily and Kim.

"Later," I mouthed. She nodded to acknowledge me, but not without a look of concern. I must have been showing my emotions on my face. I quickly put a smile on my face and joined the others in conversation. They were discussing how Number Six, Sammy, and Ryan were all grounded.

"Why are they grounded?" I asked.

"The idiots decided to take a joyride in Sam's truck. They parked in front of The Carver Cafe and tried to pick up chicks there. When they were unsuccessful at their attempts, they hopped back in the truck and tried to drive to Forks High, that's when Seth pulled them over. He handcuffed all three of them, took them to Charlie at the station who threw them in jail overnight to teach them a lesson. By the time we picked them up in the morning, all three of them were crying for their mommies."

We had a good laugh at that. "Hey, remember when Charlie Swan threw our asses in jail overnight?" Jared reminisced looking at me and Sam.

"My dad threw you guys in jail? Why?"

"He was fishing with Billy Black and Harry Clearwater and left his police cruiser parked right in front of the Clearwater house with the keys in the ignition. We knew they would be gone all day so we thought it would be fun if we took it for a ride. We went all the way to Port Angeles, then we ran out of gas on the way back. We were almost home too. The three of us were standing outside of the cruiser like the dumb fucks we were when Harry, Billy, and Charlie drove by. They, of course, spotted us and the cruiser right away. Harry went to get some gas for the cruiser, then, after he put it in the tank—Charlie threw the three of us in jail overnight. Sam's and my parents were more pissed than we had ever seen them when they came to pick us up the next morning."

"What happened to you, Paul?"

"Oh, my mom never came to pick me up. Charlie actually got me out of jail later that evening, fed me dinner at the Carver Cafe, then took me home to speak to my mom. She actually yelled at him for letting me out of jail," I explained to Bella.

"Oh my God! Why did she want you to stay in jail?"

"She didn't like me very much."

We finished off dinner and desserts, then sat and had drinks at the table. A couple of hours later, I settled the check and we finally called it a night. We said our goodbyes because they were starting back to La Push at seven in the morning.

Sam, Emily, Jared, and Kim thanked both me and Bella for everything.

The four of them left, leaving Quil, Rachel, Embry, and Jessica.

"We wanted to let you know that Jacob's already called the tribal elders," Embry said. "I eavesdropped on the phone call from the hallway. They're planning on ordering the two of you home because of the imprint after we all get back from Disney."

Rachel, then, jumped into the coversation, "That gives you two roughly two days to get married. Please, please, take my advice and do it. I know my Quilly talked to you earlier. It's pertinent that you do this so they don't have control over Bella."

"Bella, you and I are in the same boat," Jessica said. "We have to stick together in this. Once they find out you're married, they're going to try and get you to move onto the reservation. Stick to your guns, though. Embry and I actually live in Forks and not on the reservation so it's usually safe to contact one of us."

"Alright, I think now's a good time to exchange contact information," Quil stated. "We use the Star Wars theme as a ring tone when we call each other that way we know it's one of us."

"Is it necessary to go to that extreme?" I asked.

"Trust me, it is. The ones you have to watch out for are my grandfather, and Brady's father—Tony Fuller. Billy Black, Joshua Uley, and Sue Clearwater are actually on our side. They want improvements on the reservation as well. Among the pack, be careful of Collin and Jake. Oh, and Angela is a snippy bitch. Brady is fine—he actually wants out of La Push. The poor kid is twenty-six, has four kids with his imprint, and has been unemployed for over a year. His wife works with Emily at the clinic. We all try to help him out when we can."

We exchanged numbers and email addresses and said we'd keep in touch. They thanked us for dinner and we went our separate ways.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was close to one am. I quickly checked for flights from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and found one that left at six am. "Baby, I hate to do this to you, but I have a bad feeling about what Quil and company said about Jake. I think we need to haul ass out of the hotel and leave for Las Vegas on the first flight out of here."

"Are you kidding? I'm with you on this—I'm completely creeped out right now."

"Alright, let's pack and get the fuck out of dodge. I'll book the tickets and the hotel now and cancel our hotel reservations in L.A."

Bella had our luggage packed in minutes. Something that I loved about her was that she was a minimalist when it came to packing for travel. She didn't bring along twenty outfits for a two day trip and she didn't mind doing laundry during longer trips.

We checked out of the hotel, made our way to the airport and, in no time, it was time for our flight. We both fell asleep as soon as the flight took off and an hour later the flight attendant was waking us both up.

We hopped in a cab to Caesar's Palace where I had booked a suite and spa package for us. Bella and I didn't even bother touring the room. We both hit the sack and fell into a dreamless sleep in each other's arms for the last time as an unmarried couple. I couldn't wait to make Bella my wife.

**Do you think that Paul did the right thing in helping his buddies out? What did you think of what Quil, Rachel, Embry, and Jessica had to say? Let me know your thoughts on this chapter and I promise to respond. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. XOXO mama4dukes**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you for your wonderful reviews, messages, faves, and alerts. I'm so happy you're enjoying my version of Paul.**

**With this chapter, I must state that in no way am I indicating that I am an expert on tribal governments. I mean no disrespect to the Quileute Nation and I am expressly stating that this is a work of fiction. The Quileutes actually have a beautiful culture and a wonderful tribal infrastructure. I also want to point out that the fact that the shapeshifters are restricted to the reservation is actually canon. Bear in mind that Sam had to give up a college scholarship and stay on the reservation, and Jacob pointed out that he could never leave the reservation. You'd better believe that Paul is going to challenge that theory. I don't like it and neither does he or Bella.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Jake's POV**

This is fucking bullshit! Why the hell does Paul Lahote get to imprint on my ex-girlfriend? There should be a fucking imprinting law banning that sort of shit. Having her near me and Angela was uncomfortable to say the least. Unfortunately, we needed her skills to help deliver Leah's baby.

When we caught sight of them at Disneyland, I freaked out. Not only had we not seen Paul in five years, but to see him with Bella. That really hurt. How could she do that to me? On top of that, the two of them looked happy. Happier than I'd ever seen either of them before. Everyone else didn't have a problem with them. Even my oldest son, Will, liked Bella. He now has a full blown crush on her.

The thing that bothers me the most is how uncomfortable Bella's presence is to Angela. I don't like it when Angela is sad and that "bitch" comment that Bella muttered under her breath was downright rude. I can't believe Paul stepped in to protect her. She deserved a dress down for talking to my imprint like that.

I was extremely angry at Charlie Swan and Sue Clearwater for hiding the fact that Paul and Bella imprinted from me. Ever since I imprinted on Angela, Charlie hasn't spoken about Bella, and he rarely, if ever, speaks to me. He claims it's none of my business. Now that Paul has imprinted on her, it's definitely tribal business. I informed the elders without anyone's knowledge about the situation. Paul's ass is going to be hauled back to La Push for a tribal meeting so we can address the Bella Swan situation. I told them that they weren't married nor was Bella pregnant. Tony Fuller was extremely pleased with the news and he said that we'd start working on the situation as soon as I returned to La Push from California in two days.

**Bella's POV**

Oh, my Lord, I'm exhausted. I haven't pulled an all-nighter in a while, but I felt just as strongly as Paul did that we needed to get the hell out of California. What time is it anyway? Four in the afternoon? Holy shit! This is gonna throw our sleep schedule off. Usually, we're both up by six am.

"Paul, Paul honey, wake up."

"Hmmrr..."

"Come on, baby, it's time to wake up."

"Nnnhhmmrr..."

"Paul!"

"I'm up! I'm up!" He bolted awake. "What time is it?

"Four in the afternoon."

"Fuck, was I tired." He got out of bed, slung me over his shoulder, and started the shower.

"Uh, honey, we've got to take our clothes off."

"Oh, yeah...I'm so out of it."

A quick shower later and we were dressed and out of our hotel room. We stopped by at the concierge desk to find out how to get married. It was a piece of cake. All we had to do was get a marriage license and find a place to get married. The licensing bureau was open until midnight so there was no rush.

"Good, let's find a place to eat, I'm starved," Paul said.

We got a bite to eat in the hotel then headed to the licensing bureau. It took five minutes for us to fill out the form and for a marriage license to be issued to us.

"Um, Paul?"

"Hm?"

"Don't we need wedding rings?"

"Oh, yeah, good thinking, babe. Let's see what we can get at the Forum Shops."

We opted for simple platinum wedding bands from Tiffany and Company.

"Paul, would you mind if I met you somewhere in the mall in say, an hour? I kind of wanted to get married in a wedding gown." I did. I never really wanted a big wedding, but I always wanted to get married in a white gown. Crazy, I know, but that's how it's always been.

He winked, smiled, and told me to have fun.

A half an hour later, I found a gown and a veil that I liked at Carolina Herrera. It wasn't a wedding gown, per se, it was a white evening gown with some silver details. I'd be able to use this again at an evening function so it wouldn't be a waste of money. This being Las Vegas, they had a tailor on site that could do quick alterations. They said they'd have it ready for me by seven pm. Satisfied, I left the shop and walked around the mall. I stopped to pick up a pair of silver, strappy high-heeled sandals that I could wear even after the wedding and some lingerie for the wedding night. I went back to Carolina Herrera and asked them to hold the items here until I picked my dress up. By then, it was time to meet my fiance.

"I have to pick my dress up at seven pm."

"That's fine, I have to pick my tux up around that time, too. Let's go find a place to get married and make arrangements."

Back at the hotel, we scoured the internet on Paul's laptop to find a chapel, any chapel, that would marry us. It was turning out to be harder than we thought. This week, apparently, was busier than hell.

"I suppose we can do a drive-thru wedding," I suggested.

"Hell no! You bought a beautiful dress and I want to see you walk down the aisle in it."

But, Paul..."

"No, buts, where there's a will there's a way and I just had a great idea. Wait here, I have to talk to the concierge." Paul kissed me on the lips and left the hotel room.

Well, good, I'm glad he thought of something because I'm fresh out of ideas. I'm still freaked out by what Quil, Embry, Rachel, and Jessica said. How could the tribal council not want the best in life for the members of the tribe? It just didn't make sense to me.

Rachel and I have always gotten along, but it was Jessica that surprised me the most. I thought Jacob and Angela hiding their imprint from me was bad, but we were all still in high school back then. Jessica had it a lot worse. The fact that Mike fathered two children with Lauren while he was married to Jessica must have killed her. I'm glad she had Embry now. I've always liked him.

Paul was back at the hotel in no time with a victorious smile on his face. "I did it! Let's go get some dinner. The concierge suggested Spago at the Forum Shops. We can pick up our outfits then.

After picking up my gown and his tux, we met at Spago where we had a wonderful dinner.

"You know, honey, if I didn't love you so much—I think I'd marry Wolfgang Puck solely for his culinary skills."

"I can understand that, I think I'd be willing to go the other way for this food. Notice he has wolf in his name," he chuckled.

By the time we were done with dinner, it was already past nine pm. We walked back to the hotel where I was abruptly handed over to some woman—wedding dress and all.

"Hello, my name is Jennifer, I'll be getting you ready for your wedding."

"Oh, I'm Bella."

"A pleasure to meet you Bella." She smiled and led me upstairs to a bridal suite where she had a bath all ready to go for me. "Please take your time bathing and then I'll do your hair and makeup."

I soaked in the tub for about a half an hour then went to Jennifer. There was a room set up like a beauty salon and I was instructed to sit. Jennifer washed my hair and asked what I wanted to do. I told her to just make me look good. She cut and styled my hair then put it up in an updo. After that, she applied my make up. She instructed me to use the ladies room before putting on my gown because it would be difficult to do after I was in it.

When I was done using the ladies room, she placed the veil I had purchased on my head, then it was time for me to get into my gown. A couple of minutes later, I was ready to take a look at myself in the mirror. I couldn't believe it was me in the mirror. She did such a fabulous job.

"You look beautiful, but something's missing. I can't quite pinpoint it. Ah...I know. For you, from Mr. Lahote." Jennifer handed me a small box from Tiffany and Company. I opened it and inside were a pair of heart shaped, drop earrings encrusted with diamonds. I was so overwhelmed, I had tears in my eyes.

Jennifer dabbed my eyes with a tissue and fixed my make up. I put the earrings on—they were stunning. "Now, you're ready," Jennifer said. "Ooh. We're running a bit late, we need to go."

Jennifer led me upstairs to...our hotel suite? Okay, maybe we were picking Paul up. She knocked and the door was opened for us. I couldn't believe it, the entire downstairs of the two-story suite had been transformed into a wedding sanctuary. There were pink rose petals scattered all over the floor that led to an arch that had vines and roses twisted all around. Paul stood by the arch waiting for me looking as handsome as ever in his tuxedo with a big smile on his face.

**Paul's POV**

I was transfixed by the sight that beheld me. Bella looked stunning in a form fitting strapless wedding gown. She was handed a bouquet and told to walk down the aisle. When she finally reached my side I was totally mesmerized. We said our vows, had the first of many kisses as a married couple, and the minister announced, "Congratulations, at precisely midnight on December 31st—you've become Mr. and Mrs. Paul Lahote." He, then, turned our song, James Ottos's 'Just Got Started Loving You,' on and instructed us to have our first dance together. We swayed to the beat of the song feeling complete and in love with each other.

After the ceremony was done, photos of us were taken inside and outside on the hotel grounds. Back at the hotel room, everyone congratulated us and they went on their way taking the wedding props with them. I lucked out when I made the arrangements. The props, including the strewn rose petals were actually from a wedding held in the afternoon. When I was talking to the concierge, the wedding planner happened to overhear us and offered the props to us for use in our room. She said the flowers and whatnot were headed for the compost bin anyway, but they were still in perfect shape. There was no way we would have been able to purchase flowers for the wedding with all of the florists completely sold out. As it was, the bouquet and the boutonniere were from a wedding that was cancelled at the last minute. I, then, talked her into setting the wedding up, but she said that, unfortunately, she had dinner plans. She cancelled the plans after I offered her three thousand bucks in cash for her services. In fact, she put together a crew of three, including a photographer, and I paid them each fifteen hundred dollars in cash. I wanted to make this wedding special for Bella.

Unbeknownst to my wife; Charlie, Sue, Phil, and Renee had been watching the proceedings via live webstream from their computer at home. I put in a call to them after everyone left and they congratulated us. "I wish you could have been there Charlie," I said.

"_Call me, dad—son."_ That actually brought tears to my eyes. I'd never called anyone dad in my entire life. My father wasn't in the picture when I was growing up and when he was there, he'd be beating me or my old lady up in a drunken rage.

After talking to Phil and Renee, who were overjoyed, I carried my wife upstairs to the bedroom. We took in the view of the Las Vegas strip for a bit. Then I kissed her. Bella removed my tuxedo jacket and laid it over a chair, then started working on my tie. One by one, she undid the buttons on my shirt until my chest was exposed. She ran her soft hands over it and kissed me. I took the opportunity to unzip her dress. I helped her out of it and laid it carefully over the chair.

She was wearing a white silk bustier that laced up in the front with a pair of white silk thong underwear that tied at the sides with baby blue ribbons and, fuck me, a garter belt. My cock, which was already standing at attention, was now raring to go. I took my clothes off and stood in my boxers. I carried Bella to the bed, heels and all and laid her down.

Oh man, what if I cum before I even make it inside of her? I ran my hands over my goddess and stopped at her breasts. I loosened the ties on her bustier so her tits popped out. Fuck me, if this wasn't a porn worthy sight. I wonder if she'd let me film her? I took her right nipple into my mouth while flicking the other one with my finger. I could smell Bella's arousal building. I moved my hand down to her mound and she had soaked through her panties. I untied the ribbons on the side and flung her thong to the side, then kissed my way down to her sweet pussy. I had her moaning in seconds.

"Paul, please," she begged. She wanted me inside. I teased her by fucking her with my fingers. "Paul!"

I couldn't deny her any longer. I plunged inside of her in one fell swoop and damn if her pussy didn't feel good on my cock.

"Oh God, yes. Keep going!" Bella cried as I fucked her pussy relentlessly. I decided that I wanted her doggie style so I pulled out of her and flipped her over. She thought I was playing with her. "No!"

I thrust inside of her from behind and ran my fingers through her hair, scattering the pins all over the bedroom.

"Oh, yeah, baby. You're perfect like that. Keep fucking me like that." I had fisted Bella's hair and she was pounding her pussy back onto my cock over and over again. I was balls deep inside of her when I felt her walls clench on me. I came instantly at the same time and sunk my teeth into her neck again. Again? Again? This is the third time I've marked her and the second time in one week. What the heck is wrong with me? If this keeps up, I'm gonna turn into a fucking vampire.

I looked at my imprint and she was moaning in ecstasy. She didn't seem to be in pain at all. What the hell is wrong with her? Teeth hurt.

"Baby? Babe!"

"Hmm?" Bella smiled deliriously at me.

"Didn't that hurt?"

"What? The bite?"

"Yeah."

"No, it only hurt the first time. The second and the third time they became increasingly—um, I don't know...erotic?"

Erotic? How could a bite be erotic? I brought my arm up to my mouth and bit down. "Ow!"

"What the fuck are you doing?" Bella asked, alarmed looking at my now bleeding arm.

"I wanted to see if my teeth felt erotic. They don't, by the way."

"Of course, they don't. Kim and Emily think that after the first time, a bite doesn't hurt because you instinctively mark the same spot, and because it only happens when we orgasm together." She got up and grabbed her medical bag.

"You talked about it to them?"

"Yeah, who else was I supposed to talk to about it? My mother? They said that every time it happens to them, it feels like an orgasm on top of an orgasm."

"So, Sam and Jared have bitten them more than once?"

"Yes," she confirmed, as she cleaned my wound and wrapped it in gauze.

"I feel better now. I thought a wolf only marked his imprint once. I got scared after I marked you twice in one week."

"No, in fact, Kim said she was once marked three times in the course of one night."

"Figures. Jared's such a perv."

"You're a perv too and I like my personal perv," Bella said, kissing me. "Thank you for tonight. It was more than I ever dreamed of."

"Anything for you, baby." We laid down on the bed and I held her until we both fell asleep. I woke up at 7am with the sun streaming through the windows and coaxing our eyelids open. Bella was still sleeping in her bustier and garter with no panties. Hot damn! I'm not gonna deny myself my wife. I decided the best way to wake her up was to make love to her softly and slowly.

_**Later that afternoon...**_

I suck at gambling. I really do. I'm positive that all of the slot machines have been programmed to deny me my win. My wife, on the other hand, seemed to be winning each time she pulled down on the fucking handle. Of course, we were only playing quarter slots so we weren't winning much, but still.

"Look! I won three hundred dollars!" Bella squealed. Her machine was going haywire spurting out quarters all over the place. I helped her gather the coins up and we brought it to the cashier to have her exchange it for bills.

"It's New Year's Eve, what should we do?"

"Whatever you want, my treat. I've got three hundred bucks," she joked.

"Let's go buy tacky, touristy t-shirts that say Las Vegas on it for us."

"Okay."

I kissed the mark that I gave her. Bella shivered at my touch.

She placed the three hundred dollars in my pocket, then whispered, "Hey, big boy. How about I give you three hundred bucks for you to come back to my hotel room with me so I can have my way with you?"

She didn't have to ask me twice. I piggy-backed her all the way back to our suite and we got down and dirty together until our stomachs were screaming for food because we had missed lunch and it was way past dinnertime. There were four bedrooms in the suite inspired by Absolut Vodka that we were staying in and we tested out each and every one of them. We decided that the Absolut Peach room was our favorite, but it might be because of the oversized spa bathtub for two located in the room. I was on my knees inspecting the tub when Bella walked in and asked what I was doing.

"I'm looking for the name of the manufacturer for this tub so we can switch our bathtub out for this one."

"Can't you just call the designer of the room and ask? It's plastered all over the suite that the room is designed and constructed by the 'esteemed Rockwell Group.' What the hell makes them so esteemed anyway?" she asked. "Paul! You've disassembled the fixtures."

"I'll put it back together. Got it! They always hide the name behind the V-pop. Hand me a pad and pen, baby." I wrote the name of the manufacturer down and, finally satisfied, we were off to dinner. The only problem was that it was New Year's Eve and every place was packed. We ended up having to eat at the buffet at Circus Circus. It wasn't bad, it's just that I wanted to have something a little more special for Bella and my first night as husband and wife; but as she pointed out, we overindulged at fancy restaurants in California so maybe this was just what we needed.

After dinner, we walked the crowded Las Vegas strip with the rest of the New Year's Eve revelers. The shows were all completely sold out and even the movie theaters were, so we joined in the festivities on the strip. We were actually having a blast.

We stopped to get a caricature of the two of us drawn. We also bought our tacky Las Vegas t-shirts which we were going to wear tomorrow like the tourists that we were.

"Bella, after our spa day tomorrow can you help me pick out a couple of new suits for that meeting I have with the big wigs next week?"

"Yep, I was going to say that it's time you donated some of your suits anyway. The knees on one of your pants are actually almost transparent—that's really bad considering they're navy blue."

"Yeah, but that's my favorite suit. I've had it for seven years."

"That's obvious. Stop pouting. You know that I don't give two rats about appearance, but when the homeless guy near my job has clothes in better condition than yours it's time for new ones."

Two things that I love about Bella. She doesn't go nuts spending money on clothes. She only replaces items when it's necessary. Second, she doesn't hold her opinions back."

"Oh and Paul? You also need new underwear. Those boxers with the elastic that's all stretched out, that looks more like a piece of gauze when you hold them up—um, no. The others aren't faring much better either."

"I draw the line there. Those are my lucky boxers. You can take the rest, but the gauze stays. Do you think, if I take them to the dry cleaners—he'll put in new elastic for me?"

"Please don't do that, I usually pick the dry cleaning up."

Hehe, I'm gonna do that just to embarrass her. Yes, indeed.

_**Three months later...**_

We rang in the New Year in Las Vegas and three days later we were back in Phoenix and back at work. Three months had gone by and I was sitting at a meeting at the department of transportation, mentally praying to Taha Aki that they accepted my proposal. My lawyer, Grant, was sitting with me just in case they accepted it.

The governor suddenly stood up and faced me. "Paul, congratulations. Your proposal was the best out of the twenty we looked at. Why don't we let our lawyers hash out all of the details then come back to sign the contract after lunch?"

"Sounds great," I said, then nodded to Grant to take care of our end of the negotiations.

After a long, boring lunch where the governor droned on and on about the next election, we signed the contract and shook hands.

"My wife is having a luncheon on Sunday, your Isabella's already accepted," the chairman of the transportation board told me. "Maybe we can do a round of golf while the women are doing lunch. Steve will be there, too, as will Crispy."

Steve Norton and Crispin Hodges were friends of mine. Steve was actually my accountant while Crispy was a lawyer for the Department of Education. He was a member of the Wa-Ya Indian Nation here in Arizona. "Sure, just have your secretary call mine with the time and I'll meet you at the club."

Bella was a trooper. She knew how important hobnobbing with the political types were so she did it for me. She said she didn't mind much because each time she met with them, she realized how ridiculous their lives were. Most of the wives couldn't believe that Bella actually worked for a living. She just took it all in stride and told them that she loved her profession and saw no need to stop doing something she loved doing.

After a short meeting with Grant and a quick check at several of my sites, I headed for home as high as a kite. Initial estimates for the five year reconstruction were at sixteen and a half billion dollars with a built in reserve of nine billion dollars. I knew it was most likely going to go over the amount, but I'd stay as close to it as possible.

I'd have to hire at least a hundred new permanent employees, on top of about two thousand temporary ones. I planned on Sam being one of them. I also planned on hiring Jared, but I had to convince him to get his GED first or there was no deal. I couldn't relax my standards, even for a friend.

I was about five minutes away when I felt a sharp tug on my chest urging me to get home. Something was wrong with my imprint. At the same time, my cell phone rang with the Star Wars theme. "Hello?" I answered, desperately.

"_Get to your fucking house now! I just found out that Old Man Quil, Tony Fuller, and Jake left Seattle this morning for Arizona. Bella was talking to Jess when she saw them walking up to the front door. She has her cell phone on so we've been listening in,"_ Embry said frantically. _"Go!_"

"Fuck! I've gotta go. Thanks, I'll call you later."

A minute later, I pulled into the garage and overheard Bella yelling, _"Hey! Take your hands off of me! You have no business touching my neck!" _

I saw red. I broke down the door, flew into the living room, and pinned Tony Fuller up against the wall. "Touch my imprint again and you won't live to tell the tale," I warned. "Visitors, honey?"

"Yeah, the unwanted kind," Bella seethed. "This guy, I don't know who the fuck he is, wanted to check out my neck for some reason."

"Is that so?" I asked, trying to stay in control of my wolf. I did a visual assessment of my imprint and saw that she was fine.

"Oh, and I didn't even invite them into our house. They just forced their way in. I was about to call the cops."

"Good idea, honey. Go ahead," I smirked. My wife wagged her eyebrows at me. Fuller, Old Man Quil, and Jake looked panicked. "Now, what the hell do you guys want?"

"We were checking up on you, Paul. We want to know why we weren't informed of your imprinting. Matters like these have to be handled on a tribal level," Old man Quil, said.

"I don't see it written in black ink."

"Now, Paul, you know perfectly well that some things are done by word of mouth in the tribe due to your 'special genetic traits.'"

"And what 'special genetic traits' might those be?" I knew he was talking about my being a wolf.

"You know..."

"Paul, you know that he's talking about the fact that you're devastatingly handsome and intelligent compared to everyone else in the tribe. He digs ya," Bella purred. God, I love my wife.

"Young lady, this is tribal business—we are tribal elders and as far as you and Paul are concerned, we are to be addressed with respect. You are making a mockery of these proceedings. Now, it's obvious that you are an imprint, we would like to see for ourselves whether or not you are a marked imprint."

"That's none of your business, sir. This is my body and no one is touching it without my permission."

"Jacob." Fuller motioned to him to go to Bella. I had my wife shielded behind me in seconds and got up into Jake's face.

"Let me ask you this, Jake. If I touched Angela without permission, what would you do to me?"

Jacob retreated, realizing that I had a point.

"Paul Lahote, we are giving you and your imprint a tribal order to return to Quileute lands and face the elders. Furthermore, you are being ordered to marry and consummate your marriage within the La Push boundaries," Old Man Quil gave me a command.

"Well, now, you might be able to give me an order—and that's a big might, but honestly speaking, you can't give my imprint an order. She's not a member of the Quileute Indian Nation."

"She will be once you return to La Push and marry."

"Oh, didn't she tell you? We got married last year. It was a beautiful ceremony, wasn't it, honey?"

"Yes, dear, I loved the romantic setting you created and those beautiful diamond earrings you gave me. You also looked dashing in your tux."

"How come she's not wearing a wedding ring?" Jake asked.

"Oh, these rings?" She fished out a chain with her engagement and wedding band out of her shirt. "I don't wear rings at work. I find they get in the way because I work with my hands so much. You know how that is, don't you Jake? You're a mechanic so you work with your hands. Do you wear your wedding ring at work?"

"Um, no, they get in the way," he admitted.

Bella removed the rings from the chain and handed them to me. I placed them both on her left ring finger.

Jake, Fuller, and Old Man Quil all had twisted faces. They really looked like they were about to kill. Fuller finally spoke. "Paul Lahote, you are in direct violation of tribal laws. I'm ordering you to return to La Push with us. You and your imprint will annul your marriage and remarry on tribal land."

"Don't you fucking come into my home and tell me what to do! I hate to tell you this, but this is not tribal land. This land belongs to Paul and Isabella Lahote. As such it is private property. You have no jurisdiction whatsoever on this land, and even if we were in La Push, you wouldn't be telling me what to do because Paul Lahote has always been his own man. I've done a lot for you, what the hell have you fuckers ever done for me?"

An argument ensued. I felt Bella slip her cell phone, which was still connected to Embry and Jessica, into my pocket. She disappeared into the upstairs bathroom for a few minutes. I heard her turn the tub water, the bathroom fan, and the vacuum cleaner on. What the hell was she doing? She turned everything off a couple of minutes later, walked back downstairs, and stood by my side where I was still arguing with Jake and the two elders. I kept a firm hold on her hand this time.

Five minutes after Bella came back downstairs, there was a knock on our door. I went to open it with Bella. "There was a call from this address to 911," a uniformed police officer said.

"Yes, sir, that was me. My name is Isabella Lahote, this is my husband Paul. These three men forced their way into our home while my husband was at work. One of them, this one, put his hands on me."

"Have you met these men before, ma'am?"

"Only one, sir—Jacob Black."

The officer, then addressed me, "Sir, are you acquainted with these men?"

"Yes, sir, I know them from my previous residence on the Quileute Reservation in La Push, Washington. Two of these men are part of the tribal council there." Arizona police were well acquainted with dealing with tribal governments, the state was teeming with sovereign Indian nations. This guy looked like he was Native American as well.

"Is your wife a member of the nation in question and were you married on tribal land?" Yep, he's definitely of Native American descent. He knows way too much about the ins and outs of tribal law.

"No, sir, and we were married away from the reservation."

The officer nodded his head and turned to my wife. "Would you like to press charges?"

"Not this time, sir, but I would like a restraining order put into place. After all, they forced themselves into my home when I specifically asked them to leave, and one of them put his hands on me. Wouldn't those incidents count as forced entry and assault with intent to harm?"

"You're well versed in police laws, Mrs. Lahote."

"My father is the police chief in Forks, Washington. I'll be putting a call into him as soon as these men are escorted off of this property."

Well, that did it. If Bella hadn't won the police officer over before, now she had him firmly on her side.

"Just so you know, Mrs. Lahote, you can bring up charges of forced entry and assault with intent to harm anytime in the next year. This is my card, if there are any further issues, please call me at anytime." I quickly scanned the card, 'Barry Blackfoot, Lieutenant,' it read.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Blackfoot."

"No problem. Gentlemen, if you would come with us—we ask that you leave the city limits immediately and refrain from contacting the Lahote's." Lieutenant Blackfoot and his partner took some information from the three fuckers and watched them get into their rental car and followed them in their cruiser.

"Good job calling 911, honey." I kissed her atop her head.

She fished her cell phone out of my pocket and put it on speaker phone. "Did you get that?"

"_Yeah, we heard everything. Those fuckers have some nerve. I'll go tell Sue, Charlie, Billy, and Josh __what went down—they're definitely on our side. They now know that they can't do a thing about Bella so they're going to focus on you, Paul. Oh, get this. Jessica's contract with the tribal school wasn't renewed as of next year. They're saying it's because she wasn't doing a satisfactory job. I know that Fuller and Old Man Quil were involved. We're not worried, though, I make enough to support the two __of us and Jess can always teach elsewhere,"_ Embry stated.

"Alright, well, let me know if there's anything I can do to help on my end. I have tons of connections in the Department of Education here in Arizona."

"_Will do, man."_ With that, Embry ended the call.

"Baby, are you okay?" I asked, lifting her hair up and checking her neck.

"I'm fine. I got a little scared when they forced themselves into the house. Maybe I shouldn't have answered the door. Thank God, Embry came on the line and told me to keep the cell phone on."

"Yeah, he called me when I was about three miles away. I freaked out and rushed home. I'm going to retain a lawyer for us, I think. I sense some legal trouble coming our way."

"What about Crispy?" Bella liked the Hodges a lot. Crispy's wife, Babs, was a nurse practioner at Phoenix Children's Hospital. She and Bella hit it off instantly and the four of us frequently met for dinner.

"Crispy's a lawyer for the Arizona Department of Education, babe. I'm not so sure if tribal conflicts are his specialty—wouldn't that fall under constitutional law?"

"I'm not so sure, maybe you should at least consult with him. I'm seeing Babs on Sunday, I can have her ask him."

"Nah, don't worry about it. I have a tee time with him at the club on Sunday, I'll take him for drinks afterwards and I'll bring it up then." I walked to the sofa with my wife and sat down. I held her on my lap occasionally stopping to kiss her. I was on such a high until those traditionalist geezers invaded my home.

"Did you get the contract?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, I did. They approved it for sixteen point five billion with nine billion in reserve." My face broke out into a grin. "What's for dinner?"

"Whatever you want. We're going out. I was going to make some cornish game hens, but I didn't have time to cook because of our visitors. They'll keep until tomorrow."

Now they've done it, those assholes have deprived me of cornish game hen. I'm not happy. Not happy at all.

"Let's go get some Mexican food. Let me just throw some jeans on. Oh, and the governor spilled some of his drink on me during lunch so my suit needs to go to the cleaners."

"Geez, each time you meet with the governor, he spills his drink on you. And it's your new suit, too. Paul, do you have a grease spot on your tie?"

"Huh, I guess I do." I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'll drop them both off at the cleaners on my way to work tomorrow."

It was amazing how Bella and I worked in synch together. She handled the dry cleaners because it was right by her job. I always stopped for milk or bread or whatever we ran out of in the middle of the week because the supermarket was on my way home.

I was happy, ecstatic, and in total bliss. My wife was my world. I just hope the tribal council won't do anything to fuck it all up.

**You got a tiny insight into Jacob's mind. What did you think. Did you like how Paul tried to make the wedding as special as possible for Bella? What did you think of Jake, Fuller, and Old Man Quil? Do you want to kill them? Do you like how Paul handled them? What did you think of Bella? Let me know your thoughts and I promise to respond to your reviews. XOXO mama4dukes**

****I'm in absolute shock...in a good way. Life Happens, So Just Roll With It was nominated in several categories in the 3rd Annual Everything's Bigger in Texas Awards hosted by Jasper's Darlin's. I have no idea who nominated my story, but thank you so very much...I am absolutely touched by your gesture. The categories it's up for are:** Best Southern Charm fic, Best Vamp Jasper, Best Jasper Quote** for this one, _"I thought guys talked about sex a lot, but these girls can put the conversation in any men's locker room to shame. Right now, they're talking about getting off using a rabbit. Now, in my day, we kept rabbits as pets, but these girls are using them to have orgasms with. I wonder how they train them? I'm not so sure about bringing a live animal, no matter how small it is, into the bedroom. It might be a little too kinky, even for me. I'll have to talk to Bella about that, before we do that." _It's also up for **I Dream of Bella, Best AU Jasper Fic, Best Original Storyline, Best WTF Moment, and Best Overall Jasper Fic. **Voting is open through October 15th, if you'd like to chime in your opinions for this and the other wonderful stories that have been nominated. You can take a look at the categories here: **jaspersdarlins (dot) blogspot (dot) com / 2011 / 10 / vote-now (dot) html******


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you for your fantastic reviews and messages. You're all about in love with Paul as I am. He's a great guy, as you'll see in this chapter.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only.**

**_One month later..._**

**Sam's POV**

Paul and Bella had generously sent Emily and me plane tickets to visit them in Phoenix. They had offered to fly the kids over, but we declined—opting to leave them with Jared and Kim for the week. In exchange, we were taking their brood of five next week when they would fly into Phoenix.

Paul had picked us up at the airport and we had just pulled into the garage. Fuck me, their garage was bigger than our house. Emily looked just as stunned as I was.

"So, this is it. This is our house," Paul said, as he led us into what was to be Emily and my room for the week. He had just taken us on a tour of their monstrosity. There was a bathroom with a Jacuzzi connected to our bedroom. "You two are breaking this room in. No one has stayed here before. So, come downstairs after you get settled, we're going out to dinner. Bella's at the hospital delivering a baby so she won't be home for a few hours yet."

After an awesome dinner at an Italian restaurant, we came back to Paul's house and sat on the deck with beers. Bella still wasn't home yet.

"So, I have a proposition for you two."

"Okay, I'm listening."

"How do you and Emily feel about moving to Arizona?"

"Why?" _Please say you found me a job. Please say you found me a job. I'll even take a temporary job at this point. Anything._

"My company has just entered into a contract with the state of Arizona to rework the highway system. I'm hiring at least a hundred new permanent employees plus two thousand temporary laborers. I need construction workers, especially. I'll be hiring permanent salaried workers and temporary workers just for this project. What do you say?"

"What about me? I have a steady job at the health clinic in La Push." Emily stated.

"How much do you get paid?" Paul asked.

"Eleven dollars an hour."

"You do realize that on average, medical assistants with ten years experience make upwards of thirty-five thousand dollars a year, right? You're being grossly underpaid. Bella has tons of connections in the medical field. She can find you a job in a snap or you can just do it on your own. They're always looking for experienced medical assistants—especially in the hospitals."

"I didn't realize I was getting so underpaid," Emily said, shocked.

"If I were to take you up on your offer, when would I begin and how much would I be paid?" _Please say fifteen bucks an hour, please? That equals six hundred bucks a week and it can really go a long way._

"I know you're a hard worker Sam and honest, too. You're also experienced—you have over ten years in this industry under your belt. With that, I'll say that the pay depends on whether you want to be a temporary worker or a permanent employee. Personally, I'd like to hire you on a permanent basis."

"Well, what's the difference in pay?" I asked.

"Temporary workers make sixteen bucks an hour—regardless of experience. If I were to hire you permanently, based on your experience, I'd start you at a thousand bucks a week plus a benefit package."

My fucking jaw dropped. When he said, sixteen bucks an hour, I was ready to jump aboard—then he said a thousand bucks a week plus benefits. Emily was wide-eyed and nodding her head at me furiously to take the offer. With fifty-two thousand dollars a year, we'd be comfortable for the first time and with Emily working too, we might even be able to send Sammy and Emma to college.

"Paul, I don't know what to say. I'm so grateful—thank you. When do you need me to start?"

"Well, the highway reconstruction begins in January, but that's eight months away. I'd like to start you in September, though—if it's okay. I need you to become familiar with how I like things done. I have another job for you, well two really, between now and September—this one is strictly personal and under the table. I'll hook you up with ten thousand bucks to get you through until September and I'll pay for your moving costs."

Shit I'll do anything at this point. Emily and I were living on the fringes and at this point, we qualified for food stamps even with Emily working.

"What do you need for me to do?"

"I want to hire Jared, too, but I can't because he doesn't have a high school diploma or at least a GED. Unlike other companies, I have a strict rule that you have to have at least a GED in order to work for my company. I need you to help him earn his GED before August. That gives him four months. I'll convince him to do it when he and Kim come here to visit next week. In fact, I'll convince them both. I just need you to make sure he stays on the ball so he gets that GED. I'll pay for the program for both him and Kim. If necessary, have Jess and Rachel help. He has five kids, for God's sake—he needs this more than anyone."

"I agree and by September, he'll have another one. Kim's pregnant again."

"I know, I heard the second heartbeat when we were at Disney in December."

"Your hearing was always sharper than everyone else's. So, what's the second job you have for me?"

"What do you know about Tony Fuller?"

"I know that he's the scum of the earth and that he, Jake, and Old Man Quil are making life hell for Embry and Jess. Why?"

"Last month, the three of them showed up at my house unannounced and forced their way in when Bella was home alone. When I got there, Fuller was trying to get a look at Bella's imprinting mark. He didn't get a chance to look at it because I pinned the fucker to the wall. Then, he tried to order Jake to go to Bella to take a look at her neck When Jake moved towards Bella, I asked him what he would do to me if I touched Angela without permission. Anyway, push came to shove and Bella ended up calling the cops on them."

I was pissed off. How dare they threaten Bella and for Jake to even move to touch her—no that shit's unacceptable. I'm glad they got married off of the reservation. It was easier that way. Emily and I got married on the Makah Reservation and she gave birth to our babies in the clinic there. Technically, we were now members of the Makah Indian Nation—that's why I had no claim over the tribal council, even if my father is one of the elders. I was completely fine with that though.

"Are you fucking with me?" Emily blurted, incredulously. I had never seen her so livid in my life. "I am so sick of those assholes! Fuller's the main culprit and he has Jake, Collin, Linda, and Angela wrapped around his thorny finger. Old Man Quil is just—well, old and obstinate. They're more focused on the fact that you guys are wolves rather than trying to make improvements on the reservation. If you and Bella ever come back to visit, I'll take you to the Makah Reservation where I'm from. Though the conditions there are not much better with a fifty percent unemployment rate at most times, the tribal council is constantly working on ways to better the lives of their residents. As a result, the high school dropout rate is next to nothing, there's less drug and alcohol addiction, and less preventable diseases on the reservation."

"They should try to improve the reservation. A buddy of mine is from the Wa-Ya Indian Nation here in Arizona, they only have a four percent unemployment rate which is less than the statewide percentage rate of ten."

I shook my head in disbelief at hearing that. "Four percent? How? What's the population?"

"Sustainable farming and a casino," Paul explained. "The population is around seven hundred, about the same as in La Push."

"Can we go visit the reservation? I'd like to see one with only a four percent unemployment rate."

"Sure, we'll have my friend, Crispy, take us on a tour."

"That'll be great. Hey, so you need me to keep Jared focused, what's the second job you have for me? Do you need me to keep my eyes and ears open for ya on the res? I imagine that after the cops were called on the elders and Jake, shit's gonna go down between you and the council."

"Exactly, I'll have Jared do the same. Quil, Rachel, Embry, and Jess have actually been a great help," Paul said.

"Yeah, they've been stirring things up with the council. They fired Jess for no good reason whatsoever. She was actually the most popular teacher there and her students did well on standardized tests. Rachel became pissed off and quit. The school just lost two of their best teachers."

"Fuck me, I didn't know Rachel quit. That's messed up."

"I'm telling you, things are unstable on the reservation—it's best you stay away."

Emily then spoke, "Where's Bella? It's already midnight, shouldn't she be home by now?"

"Huh, she is kind of late. I'll text her to see what's up."

We chatted for about twenty minutes more when a text from Bella came in saying that for some reason everyone decided to give birth that night and the hospital requested that she stay to help. I looked out of the window and saw the full moon—well, that explains it. Funny shit always happens when there's a full moon.

It was six pm the following evening, Emily and I spent the day hanging out at Paul and Bella's while they worked. The place was like a resort. They had a tennis court, a swimming pool, a hot tub, and all of the bathrooms were fitted with jacuzzis and spa showers. We spent the day relaxing and making love. It was great, there were no kids bothering us, and it was just the two of us in this empty house. Emily started on dinner because it was the least we could do for our friends.

"Sounds like Bella's home," Paul said. When she didn't come in for a half an hour, we became concerned and went to check in the the garage. The poor girl was completely tuckered out and sleeping with her head on the steering wheel of her little Volkswagen Beetle. Paul got her out, carried her upstairs, and put her to bed. "She probably pulled an all-nighter at the hospital and went straight to work in the morning."

"At least hospital scrubs are comfortable." Emily served dinner for the three of us. She made her delicious lemon chicken dish with roasted potatoes and glazed carrots. "You don't think Bella would mind that I raided her fridge, do you?"

"Are you kidding? She'd welcome it. She's always bitching about how I buy more groceries than we need. Seriously, make yourself at home and feel free to raid the kitchen. I won't complain if you made some of your famous cornbread and banana muffins either."

"I think that's a hint, hon," I said to my wife.

"Okay, but only because you asked so nicely." Emily pecked Paul on his cheek.

We finally saw Bella the next morning as she was heading out to work. "How would you like to make three hundred bucks today, Emily?"

"How?" my wife asked.

"Both of our medical assistants apparently called out sick so when I mentioned to Dr. Blanchard that you're a medical assistant with ten years of experience and you're staying at my house—he offered three hundred dollars under the table—which is double market value, if you'd come in and help. I can understand if you don't want to because you're on vacation so it's up to you."

Holy shit. That's almost what Emily makes in a week. What luck.

"Are you kidding? I'm in."

"Okay, you can wear a set of my scrubs. I've got tons."

"I'll take Sam to work with me so he can observe a little of what I do," Paul said. "I'm only working until lunch and then after that, it's just you and me. We'll go have lunch while our wives are at work."

An hour later, I was sitting with Paul in his office—which was also bigger than my fucking house, going over some blueprints of his plans for the highway restoration. This was going to be a huge job.

"Do you have experience working with roads?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, actually I do. Jared, Brady, and I were part of the highway reconstruction crew in Spokane a couple of years ago. That was a good year. The three of us couldn't really afford an apartment out there with all of the mouths we had to feed so we phased at night and slept in St. Joe National Forest as wolves."

"Oh, I know what that's like. When I was in college, I didn't have an apartment for the first year so I had to phase at night and sleep in the forest—I usually ate there too. I worked construction during the summers so I made money then and combined it with my part time job during the school year so I could rent an apartment along with three other guys."

"What did you do for a part time job?"

"Um, Starbucks."

I started rolling. I couldn't picture Paul wearing a green apron behind a Starbucks counter serving up coffee.

"Hey, wasn't this morning's coffee good?"

"Actually, yeah—it was good. It was really good."

"I rest my case. I learned a valuable skill as a barista. I can now brew coffee like a pro and my wife has made me sole caretaker of the coffee."

Later that evening, we met up with our wives and went out for dinner at a Brazilian churrascaria. Man, oh man, it was good. Servers carrying meat on a skewer would walk up to your table and slice off pieces of different types of meat for you. Bella and Emily got drunk drinking some kind of cocktail called Caipirinha. I had to carry Emily out of the restaurant in the end, it was really nice to see her let her inhibitions go—I had to admit. The next morning was Friday and Paul had taken the day off. Emily was asked to come back with Bella for another three hundred bucks so she gladly went, hangover and all. At least she wouldn't be missing out on a paycheck for a week.

Paul and I hit the gym, which I vow never to do with him again, then met his friend Crispy for lunch. I couldn't believe the guy was some big league lawyer. He was completely down to earth and he even took me and Paul for a tour of the Wa-Ya Indian Reserve. The reservation was a well-oiled machine. Compared to La Push, they were completely organized. The police and fire trucks were new and the stations were fully staffed. The health clinic was pristine and they had three full time doctors as well as nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and medical assistants on staff. The tribal council headquarters was in good shape, too.

Crispy asked us what La Push was like. So we explained the issues that we had with the infrastructure and the outrageously high level of unemployment on the reservation. Apparently, Crispy does some work for his tribe with the American Indian Policy Center and the Bureau of Indian Affairs so he was very interested in learning about conditions in La Push. I told him that I'd get him in touch with Quil and Rachel. I could almost guarantee that our tribal council stays as far away as possible from the AIPC and the BIA.

After lunch, we went back to Paul's and chatted for a bit until our wives got home.

"I love Fridays," Bella noted. "I had such a long week. I delivered eighteen babies, most of them weren't even my patients. It was that damned full moon."

Emily had a huge smile on her face and suddenly announced, "I got a job!"

"Really, how? Where?"

I'm working at the office Bella works at beginning September 1st. The doctor liked my work so much that he hired me. They're expanding then."

"How much are you getting paid?"

"Are you ready for this? Seven hundred dollars a week, salary, which is way better than the four hundred dollars I was getting at the clinic."

Fuck me. Between the two of us, we'd be pulling in seventeen hundred a week—which brought a different question to mind. "Paul, once we move out here, where are we supposed to live?"

"Good point. A three bedroom apartment runs around twelve hundred dollars a month. I know you live rent free on the reservation, but I think your pay will more than make up for the difference."

"I agree. Holy shit, Paul, Bella—thanks for everything. I finally feel as if things are looking up."

**Jared's POV**

We met Sam and Emily at the airport and handed over our van key, their kids, and our kids and flew to Phoenix. We were now sitting with Paul and Bella in their house—no, this wasn't a house, it was a fucking resort. They were living in the lap of luxury. They both worked hard, though, really hard. If I had a job, I'd work hard, too.

"Oh, Bella, here. These are from Sammy, Ryan, Number Six, and Jake's son Will." I handed her their school photos.

"Thank you."

"Uh, turn the photos over and read the backs."

"Okay, let's see. _'To My CILF. I'm smiling for you, baby. Yours Forever, Ryan.' _Hmm? Tell him, thank you."

"What's a CILF?" Paul asked.

"Cougar I'd like to fuck," I answered. He and Bella started rolling.

Bella continued, "This next one is from Sammy. _'My Dearest Bella, I get my license in two years and three months. Love, Sammy.'_ Aw...that's kind of cute. The next one says, '_You are the woman of my dreams. I'd like to make lots of babies with you. Your future husband, Quil Ateara the Sixth. P.S. Just call me Number Six.'_ Have I even met him?"

"No, but he saw you at Disney that one time and he claims he fell in love at first sight. Plus, he's always with Ryan and Sammy and they can't stop talking about you. On top of that, Quil and Eric keep talking about your rack."

"Here's the last one, _'Dear Mrs. Lahote, I think you are beautiful. I am in the seventh grade. I'm short now, but I will be taller in the future because my dad and grandpa are tall. Love, William Black.'_ I'm assuming this is Jake's son? How did he get a picture of himself to you?"

"Your dad actually brought it to us. Will spends a lot of time with Billy, Charlie, Seth, and Quil. He's a really good kid. He doesn't take after his parents at all. They're both too busy to look after their kids. Jake has his auto repair business and Angela is a secretary at the Tribal Headquarters."

"Wow, Bella. It looks like you have a legion of fans, what are you going to do about them? I feel threatened," Paul joked.

"I'm going to buy each of them an Arizona Diamondbacks jersey and cap. They went to a lot of effort, after all. Alright, boys. I'm starved—get to cooking, the steaks are in the outdoor fridge. Kim and I will take care of the side dishes."

"Jared doesn't know how to grill, Bella."

"Oh, he will by the end of the week. I can promise you that," Bella smirked. Kim looked excited. Oh shit.

"Paul, how often do you grill?" I asked.

"About three times a week. I usually grill on the days that I get home before Bella. She does all of the side dishes though."

"Hey are we doing up those double porterhouse steaks?" I asked.

"These look like New York Sirloin to me. We're definitely hitting Morton's while you guys are here, though. They have one in Phoenix and one in Scottsdale. I like the one in Scottsdale better so we'll go to that one."

"Oh, good. I can't get the taste of that steak out of my mind."

We grilled up the steaks, sat down for dinner, and before I knew it—we were having beer by the pool. Bella had cut up some fresh fruit and she had squeezed some fresh orange juice for Kim who was expecting our sixth child.

"Okay, guys, Bella and I want to talk to you," Paul said, seriously.

"About what?"

"About the fact that you're having baby number six and you both don't have your high school diplomas."

Well, that just plain pissed me off. Who the fuck were they to judge? I've heard this spiel many times from many people. I just thought that Paul and Bella were above that.

"We're good," I said.

"No, you're not. Listen to me, We know that you can't help the fact that you didn't graduate from high school. You had your kids young and we're not judging you—we would never do that. My mom had me at seventeen, Bella's mom had her when she was eighteen, and they did a shitty job compared to you two. We just want to make life easier for you."

"How the fuck do you expect to do that? I'm dumb as shit and poor as dirt and there are no jobs in the area. Short of winning the lottery, there's really no hope for us."

"That's where you're wrong, man. If you're willing to move to Phoenix, I'll hire you. I entered into a contract with the state and my company is restoring the highways throughout the state. I need, at minimum, a hundred new permanent employees and two thousand temporary ones for this to work, especially construction workers."

I thought about if for a second, it was a nice offer, but I couldn't accept it. Kim and my family were all in La Push. My kids' friends were all there and I just couldn't picture us living anywhere, but the reservation. Sam, Emily, Kim, and I would get through this slump together—we always do.

I was about to decline when Kim spoke, "How long would the job be for and how much would it pay?"

"Well, it would be a permanent salaried position so even after the highway project ends, he would still have a job. Since he has ten years construction experience behind him, I'd start him at a thousand dollars a week plus a benefits package including health coverage, 401K, a flexible spending package, and two weeks paid vacation. He'd also get paid on federal holidays—which he'll have off and we close during Thanksgiving weekend and the week between Christmas and New Years. He's paid during those days, of course."

Did he fucking say a thousand bucks a week plus a whole bunch of other shit? I've never had benefits before. I think Paul's gone off his rocker. This shit's not normal.

"Paul, you don't have to do all of that for me. I know I'm your friend and all, and I appreciate it, but it's too much of a sacrifice on your part."

"That's the thing, Jared. I'm not making any sort of sacrifice for you. This is what I'd pay anyone I'd hire with your qualifications. Temporary workers make sixteen bucks an hour straight. A permanent salaried employee with one to three years experience would start at roughly seven hundred bucks a week. I'm paying you based on experience."

"Yeah, but what about the benefits package?" I asked.

"All permanent employees have the option to participate in the benefits package. It's like that with most big companies."

"Yeah, but I've never been offered a benefits package, neither has Kim."

"Okay, if you were to go to, say, Walmart and apply for a job there—you'd sit in a room with the human resources coordinator and he or she would explain your benefits package to you. You would then pick and choose which benefits you want to participate in. For example, Bella has health insurance available at her job, but she doesn't buy into it because I provide that for her through my benefits package. She does, however, participate in the 401K plan because her employer matches her contribution for her."

"Wait a minute, so does the health insurance cover both me and Kim?" I asked.

"It'll cover you, Kim, and the kids. It's called a family plan."

Wow. I'm kind of blown away. I still have to think about it, though. Moving all the way to Arizona was huge.

"I have to think about it, Paul. It's a big step to move all the..."

"He'll do it," Kim interrupted.

"Babe, I..."

"No, buts. I'm sick and tired of being poor. I can't stand it anymore. It's not fair to the kids and we have another one on the way! I hate my life! I hate it! I hate it!" Kim started crying. I moved to comfort her, but she ran to Bella instead. I couldn't stand it when my imprint was upset. It really hurt me physically. I thought she was happy with our life on the reservation. I guess I was wrong.

"I'll do it," I told Paul.

"Good, now let me tell you about the catch." Damn it, I knew it was too good to be true. "All you have to do is earn your GED—preferably by September and by December at the latest."

"My GED? I can't do that. I didn't do well in high school, you know that."

"Yes you can!" Paul insisted. "You did better than I did in high school. You were the one that helped me through all of those English classes."

Come to think of it, I did do better than he did. "How the fuck did you get through college? You're a real stupid fuck."

"Determination."

"He'll do it. I'll make sure he does it," Kim stated with a new fervor in her eyes.

"Oh, it's not just him that has to do it. You do too. I won't hire him unless you earn your GED, too, Kim. I know you can do it because you used to get straight A's in high school."

"Why me, though?"

"You have to earn your GED to prove that you can accomplish something to yourself and to your kids. Remember that to your kids, you're their primary role model. They learn by watching you. If you don't at least earn your GED, your kids will think it's okay to drop out of high school. You don't want that to happen, do you?" Bella asked.

"No, no! I want my kids to have a life. I don't want them to get married and have kids so young. I want them to be like you and Paul. I'll do it and so will Jared. We'll earn our GEDs before September. In fact, we'll earn it before the baby comes in August."

"I know you can do it."

"Okay, so here's the deal. I'll pay for your GED course. It's done online. I'll also give you ten thousand dollars to tie you over until September. On top of that, I'll take care of your relocation costs."

"Paul, that's too much, that's..."

"That's what friends do."

"Thank you." My wife ran into Paul's arms with tears in her eyes. He held her for the longest time until she was all cried out. She then ran into my arms with the hugest grin on her face.

"So where do we live?" I asked.

"Well, Bella owns a house that she's renting out right now. The current residents are vacating it at the end of June. We thought we'd offer it to you guys for five hundred bucks a month."

"Alright, come on. Even I know that you can't rent a house for five hundred bucks a month."

"True, but we want to give you guys a chance to get on your feet. On top of that, you're gonna have six mouths to feed soon."

"Thanks, guys. I really appreciate everything you're doing for us. I know I'm in no position to ask, especially with all you've just done for us, but I'm wondering if there's any way for you to do something for Sam and Brady."

"Sam and Emily are moving here in September. I'll have to see about Brady. What can you tell me about him? I remember him being the last one of us to phase. He was only in middle school, right?"

"He's a good kid. You had already left for college when he imprinted. Unfortunately, he was only fourteen when he imprinted on one of his classmates, Missy. She's Sam's first cousin. She became pregnant right away and by the time they were fifteen, they had their first baby. They managed to finish high school, though. Her mother insisted and even watched the baby for them so they could finish school. When they graduated, they already had two kids—now they have four. Sam and I have been guiding Brady ever since he and Collin had it out. Brady wanted to leave La Push with his kids and imprint to try to find a job, but Collin and Jake informed Tony Fuller of Brady's plans and they were given a tribal order to remain in La Push."

Paul was growling. He looked fierce and pissed off and so did Bella. "They can't order anyone to stay in La Push unless they've committed a crime. Even, then, they're limited to six months in the La Push jail. Choosing to leave La Push to better their lives isn't a crime."

"None of us knew that and Brady wasn't held in jail. He still lives in Missy's parent's house with her and their kids."

"We'll figure this shit out. How is he as a construction worker?"

"He's good. He's new to it, though. Sam and I brought him with us when we worked on the highway in Spokane so he has about nine months of experience. None of us have worked since then except for odd jobs around Forks and La Push."

"How long ago was Spokane?"

"About two years ago," I sighed.

"So you guys have been unemployed for two years? I wish you would have told me. I'm always looking for hard workers. Does Brady do drugs? I'm sorry, I have to ask."

"No, he hardly even drinks. He's a really good kid, which is amazing considering that his father is a dick. His little brothers are all pieces of shit, too."

"I know, Fuller came over with Old Man Quil and Jake and tried to order me back to La Push. They forced their way into our house when I wasn't home and threatened Bella."

Now, I was growling. That pissed me off! I started shaking uncontrollably. I could vaguely hear Paul telling me to calm down as I backed away from the table. I can't believe they...oh shit...I...I phased. Paul phased, too, and stood in front of our imprints to block them. Kim, who was more used to this than Bella, took her hand and led her into the house. Paul, then, started talking to me in wolf form. _"Don't worry, I'm working with a lawyer. We'll all get through this. I just need you to keep your eyes and ears open for me. Sam's doing the same."_

"_Show me the memory of what they did to you and Bella,"_ I demanded.

He did and I was even more pissed off. The two of us took off for a run through the Arizona desert. No one else was in their wolf form right now. Most of us simply didn't phase anymore. The last time I phased was two years ago with Sam and Brady, but that was only so we could sleep as wolves in the forest while we were working in Spokane.

After I was calm, Paul asked me a question. _"Hey, man, I've got to ask you something."_

"_Go ahead." _

"_Is it true that you've marked Kim more than once?"_

"_Yeah, the information that we were given on marking was wrong. You know how I like to read, right? Well, I got bored a few years back and started reading everything in the archives. The elders were proud because they thought that I was taking a greater role in maintaining tribal traditions. The truth is that I had run out of stuff to read. Anyway, the mark solidifies the intertwining of our souls. It's only done during the peak of passion and it's definitely done repeatedly. Why? Did you mark Bella?"_

"_I did, on our first night together—less than twenty-four hours after I imprinted on her."_

"_Holy shit. I read about this, too. It was in the books of a shaman. This has only happened once before—they say that the wolf who marks his imprint during the first claiming is a true spirit warrior and the rightful Alpha of the pack—they call him the Great Protector. The spirit warrior will go on a lone journey to find balance in his soul and he will return with great strength of mind and an imprint that he marked off of tribal lands. His arrival will come during a time of great tribal turmoil, but he is there to bring unity and stability back to the Quileute people. He will cause a great divide with his free thinking. His imprint has the same inner strength as he does. While she does not have the ability to shift, she has the ability to heal. Together they will heal the Quileute Nation and those wolves that follow him will achieve eternal salvation and become spirit warriors along with their Alpha. Your imprint is the lost part of your soul and you are the most powerful and complete wolf of the pack."_

"_Wow! That's some heavy shit. Who was the other wolf who marked his imprint on the first go?"_

"_Taha Aki. His third wife was his imprint."_

"_Shouldn't he have died when she died, then?"_

"_His soul died that day, but he was determined to keep his people safe. I think you're good, though, because it said that the Great Protector will have an even stronger bond with his mate than Taha Aki and his third wife did because his imprint will have a great understanding and a prior knowledge of the ways of our world. That part led me to believe that whoever the imprint of the Great Protector was wouldn't be from our tribe. Anyway, it said that he will watch over his tribe from a distance forever more with his imprint by his side."_

"_Holy shit, Jared, when I imprinted on Bella—she knew the moment it happened." _Paul showed me his memory of the moment. It was funny as hell.

"_That has to be the funniest imprinting I've ever seen. Most of us stare dumbly at each other, hold hands, and pledge our eternal love to each other. Your imprint actually chastised you for imprinting on her then scared the shit out of you and made you run."_

"_I know, right. That's Bella for you."_

I saw another memory running through his brain._ "Let's run back to your house and phase back to human form. Can you make me some coffee tomorrow morning? You look good in green."_

"_What am I your slave? Sure. Do you want espresso, cappuccino, a latte, a mocha, a caramel macchiato, or Americano."_

"_What?"_

"_I just want coffee, dude. What's all that other shit?"_

Paul ran through another memory for me—this time showing me how all of the different coffees are made. _"I'll take a caramel macchiato."_

"_Yeah, that's Sam's favorite, too."_

We phased back to human form when we reached Paul's house. Our imprints were fast asleep. No wonder, it was already two am. "Remember, dude, I want my caramel macchiato in the morning," I reminded Paul as we loped off to our rooms.

Kim was sleeping contentedly so I wordlessly turned the tub on and climbed inside, letting the jacuzzi jets soothe my tired muscles. I thought about everything that happened tonight. Paul's offer was generous and it would get my family out of poverty for the first time. Now, that I was pretty sure that Paul was the true spirit warrior and the rightful Alpha of the pack—therefore the Great Protector, I planned on following his advice to the end. I think he was still wary of what I told him, but I, for one, believed it and I vowed right then and there that Paul is my Alpha. I'll have to let Sam and Brady in on what I learned so they can affirm that Paul is their Alpha, too. Ha ha. This shit's gonna be funny if Jake tries to Alpha order us again. He won't be able to. I think I'll tell Quil, Embry, and Seth, too. I suppose I should tell Leah as well. She hates Jake and she hasn't been that bad ever since she imprinted on Eric. The more wolves on our side, the better it would be for us. All I knew was that change was coming to the people of La Push and Paul was the key.

_**A/N: The Wa-Ya Reserve that Paul mentioned is fictional. Some of the members of the tribe will play a prominent role in this story.**_

**Paul is a really upstanding friend by giving his friends an opportunity to make it out of their financial rut? What did you think of the fact that Emily was only getting paid four hundred dollars a week after over ten years of working as a medical assistant? Something isn't right with that picture. What are your thoughts on Jared's conclusion that Paul is the Great Protector? Do you think he's on to something? Did you like the photos with the messages to Bella from her legion of adolescent La Push fans? Last of all, what kind of coffee do you want Paul the Great Barista concocting for you? Let me know your thoughts on this chapter in a review, you have my word that I will respond. XOXO mama4dukes**


	7. Chapter 7

**If I could find a naked Paul wearing only a green Starbuck's apron and present him to you, I would. Thank you for your supportive reviews. I truly appreciate it.**

**If you are offended by swearing, it's best that you do not read this chapter. The pack will swear-a lot. Just a friendly warning.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only.**

**Paul's POV**

_Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep!_ Shut the fuck up! I hate the sound of my alarm clock. I hit the snooze button, threw the pillow over my head, and tried to go back to sleep. I was exhausted. After Kim and Jared went home, it had been two weeks of non-stop meetings at work. I have another one this morning with my team of engineers and, then, an informal one on Monday morning with a senator from New Mexico and the head of their transportation board over a round of golf. All I want to do is relax.

The alarm went off again and this time I shut it off. Fuck the meeting. I must have fallen back asleep again because when I woke up next, it was to a feeling of complete euphoria. I peeked underneath the comforter and my wife had my cock fully sheathed in her mouth. Her tongue was swirling along it's length, from bottom to top, and was now concentrating on working the tip. She slid my cock up and down in her mouth a few times and was now sucking on my balls. A few seconds later, the tip of my cock was touching the back of her throat. Oh, yeah, this is damn...aah...holy...oh...that's it, all the way down...good girl...fuck...aaah... "Bellaaaa!" I moaned as I shot my load into her mouth.

She popped her head out from underneath the covers and looked into my eyes with a grin on her face. "You rang?"

"Get the hell up here, bad girl." I held her for a little while then climbed into the shower with her to get ready. I looked at the time and we were both running about five minutes behind. No coffee or breakfast this morning, but that was the best fucking wake up call I've had in ages. I'll have to make it up to her later tonight.

Bella's pager went off then. She called the answering service to see what was going on. "Shit, Dr. Blanchard is out with the flu so it's just me today. My patient load just doubled. I won't be done until eight, at the very least."

"Don't worry about dinner, I'll have Madge rustle up a burger for me at the Bikini Lounge. I'm assuming you're just going to order in at your office?"

"Yeah, I'll have to—at least today is Friday so I have the weekend off. I have absolutely nothing planned except for rest and relaxation."

"Good idea. We won't make plans with anyone over the weekend. Do you have any patients in danger of going into labor?"

"I did, but I had to transfer her care over to an OB/GYN because she had way too many complications. I suspect she's going to need a c-section."

We kissed each other goodbye and went our separate ways to work. I hated being away from her. I missed her so much during the day.

Around seven-thirty, I headed over to the Bikini Lounge for dinner and drinks.

"Where's Blondie tonight?" Frank asked.

"She's still at work. Dr. Blanchard called out sick so it's just her all day. Can Madge do up a couple of her blue cheese burgers and some fries for me?"

"You heard him, didn't ya, Madge?" Frank said, before turning his attention back to me. "Did you know that I've known Blondie since she was eight years old?"

"Really? I had no idea." I truly didn't. I just thought that Bella knew Frank and Madge from coming here as an adult.

"Yeah, her mother would bring her in here for a quick bite to eat every Saturday. Sometimes, when Renee had a date and couldn't get a sitter, she would have Blondie hide out on the other side of the bar with her nose buried in a book. I caught her sneaking into the kitchen to watch Madge cook a few times. After awhile, Madge just invited her into the kitchen and would have her help with little chores in the kitchen. It made the little sprite happy. When she was in high school, we hired her to cook alongside Madge on the weekends."

"No kidding? I had no idea."

"You know, it's a wonder Bella turned out the way she did with a flake like Renee for a mother. It wasn't until she met Phil that she straightened out. I remember Bella had saved up her money working here to buy a car, then Renee got her lights shut off for non-payment. Bella payed it herself and gave up on her car. After that, Renee met Phil. He's a good guy, but Renee ignored Bella after meeting him and eventually sent her away to live with her dad in Washington."

That plain pissed me off about Renee. I knew she cared about Bella, but she always put herself first instead of her kids. Frank cracked open a fresh bottle of Smithwicks for me and poured himself a shot of whiskey.

"To Blondie," he said, holding his shot glass up. I clinked my beer bottle with his glass and the two of us drank to my wife.

Around ten pm, I decided to head home. I had just gotten into my truck when my cell phone buzzed.

"_Paul?"_ she sounded desperate. _"I can't find my car! It's not in my parking spot. I've been walking around looking all over the place and I can't find it anywhere!_"

Oh shit. This is all we needed. Car theft was a problem in Phoenix with it's proximity to Mexico. Bella's Volkswagen Beetle didn't have LoJack either.

"Baby, where are you now?" It sounded like she was outside walking.

"I'm a couple of blocks away from the office."

"I'm gonna hang up. Call 911 and tell them what happened and go back to your office. I don't want you walking around there by yourself at this time of night. I'll be right there, baby. I'm only a few blocks away from you."

I turned the truck around and shot straight over to my wife. I scanned the parking lot behind the building and there were no cars parked there. The police arrived a minute after I did and took down a report. Bella explained that she parked her car around eight twenty this morning and left it there until she was ready to leave work around nine thirty this evening. When she didn't see her car, she walked around the neighborhood for a few minutes searching for it. She called me and then 911 after I told her to.

The police took her report and told us to report the vehicle as stolen to our insurance company. They put out an APB for the car and left us standing in the parking lot by my truck.

"I'm sorry, babe."

"It's not your fault. This kind of thing happens a lot in Phoenix." She walked into my arms so I could hold her. "Let me go lock the office up, then we can go home."

Hmm? The office is still open and it's just the two of us? We can play doctor. "Bella...!"

_**Three hours later...**_

"That was amazing, baby," I cooed in my wife's ear. We had finally locked the office up and were heading home.

"Mmm...yes, we'll have to do it again next time Dr. Blanchard is out with the flu."

"Can't you just inject him with the flu virus once a month or something?"

"I'll think about it. Now, what are we going to do about my car situation?"

"Well, if the cops don't find it over the weekend, you can either rent a car for a couple of weeks or buy a new one. Whatever you want to do."

"Okay, we'll start with a rental then purchase one if it doesn't turn up."

_**The next morning...**_

"_Mr. Lahote? This is Detective Standish of the Phoenix Police Department, we've located your wife's car."_

"Oh, good, good. Where can we pick it up?"

"_Unfortunately, it was involved in a motor vehicle accident in Palo Verde—the car was totaled, sir."_

"Excuse me, where's Palo Verde?"

"_It's in California, just over the Arizona border. It's about two and a half hours away from Phoenix. The police there removed what they believed to be Mrs. Lahote's belongings from the vehicle including a cell phone charger, an iPod, a commuter coffee mug, a pair of sunglasses, a hooded sweatshirt, a gym bag, and any and all documents from the dashboard."_

"Wait, they didn't take the iPod?"

"_No, sir, it was loaded with country music. I guess even car thieves have their limits. Ahem, sorry, back to the topic. The car is being held at the police impound lot until you contact your insurance company after which time they would like permission to send the car to a salvage lot for destruction."_

"Uh, sure. Do they need us to drive down there?"

"_No, sir, we'll be sending two uniformed officers to take a look at the wreckage on Monday—we'll bring Mrs. Lahote's belongings back with us at that time. Where should we deliver them?"_

"You can just bring them to my office." I gave the detective my company address and went to break the news to Bella. She didn't take the news very well. I think she was holding out hope that the car would be found. It was the very first new car she purchased on her own and it held a lot of memories for her. She had just finished paying it off last year, too.

"I guess we're going car shopping today, then," Bella said, glumly.

"Yeah, we're not financing it, though, and we're registering it under both our names. That way you can put it under my insurance and we'll get a multi-car discount. I'm throwing your name on the Escalade, too. Now, what kind of car do you want?"

"Anything with four wheels and an engine that runs." Shit, this is going to be tougher than I thought. The last time I went car shopping with a woman, it was fairly easy. It was with my ex-Tina and all she wanted was a BMW. She asked for a seven series, I bought her a three. I had a feeling then that we weren't going to last after she started bitching about how I only purchased a three series BMW for her.

"Okay, do you want another Volkswagen Beetle?"

"No, I'll keep thinking about my stolen one."

"Alright, let's do it this way. Do you want a car, truck, or SUV?"

"A car. We already have a truck." That's my girl, she's thinking practically.

"What color do you want?"

"Red."

"Is there any possibility that you know what make and model you want?" I asked, hopefully.

"No, anything is fine. You pick. I won't complain, I promise. Just don't get a standard shift—I can't drive those."

"Aren't you coming with me?"

"No, surprise me."

"Bella, you have to come with me. This is your car. You have to test drive it."

"Paul, please don't make me go. I hate car dealerships—the salespeople are all pushy and sleazy. I had a horrific experience buying the Beetle. Not only was the guy a hard seller—he grabbed my ass and tried to pick me up afterwards."

Oh, hell no! Now I was seething. I didn't like the idea of anyone grabbing my imprint's ass. I calmed myself down because Bella didn't need me to flip my lid and go wolf on her right now.

"I have an idea. Let me just make a call." I decided to phone one of my business associates. He owned a chain of car dealerships throughout Phoenix and Scottsdale and my company was contracted to construct his corporate headquarters. Later, I entered into a deal with him where I lease all of my company work trucks from him. He owed me a favor. I explained what happened to my wife's car and told him about her unease with salespeople.

"_Don't worry about it, Paul—I'll take care of you guys personally. Would you happen to know if she purchased her Beetle from one of my dealerships?"_

"Hang on. Honey, which dealership did you purchase your bug from?"

"Hatfield, where else is there?" Bella replied with distaste.

"Sorry, Scott, she bought it from one of yours," I chuckled.

"_Well, I appreciate the feedback. Tell your wife we'll be retraining our salespeople so they aren't so pushy or sleazy and so they don't try to fondle or pick up our customers. I'll also be having a few words with the salesperson that she dealt with if he's still employed with us. I can guarantee that if he is, he won't be employed with us after today. Do you know what she wants?"_

"A red car, automatic, not stick—that's what she's narrowed it down to. Oh, and no Volvos," I added at the end.

"_Why don't you bring her to my headquarters in two hours and I'll have some red cars brought over for her to test drive."_

"Alright, I appreciate it, Scott. See you then."

"No Volvos, Paul?" Bella asked after I ended the call.

"Um, yeah, I don't like them." The truth was, I remembered that her bloodsucker ex used to drive one and there was no way in hell that my wife was going to drive one of those cars.

"I don't like Volvos either," Bella said. "It's a pussy car."

"Damn straight!" I said and kissed her on the lips. "Come on, let's get going, baby."

After six hours, eighteen test-driven cars, lunch catered in by Scott to his office, plus one tee time next weekend at the club with Scott and his wife—Bella ended up choosing a red, convertible Lexus IS 350C equipped with LoJack to be delivered tomorrow to our house. Scott sold it to us at dealer cost so he made absolutely no profit from the sale, but it was not done out of the kindness of his heart—it was a well-calculated business deal. My company leases and maintains our corporate work trucks at his Ford dealership, by doing this small thing for us—which was really no skin off of his back, it guaranteed that I would re-enter into another contract with him. He, in turn, would give my company a good deal on the leases, and whenever Bella or I needed a vehicle—we'd get it at cost. It was a you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours kind of thing.

**Jared's POV**

_**La Push, Washington**_

I had been home for two weeks now and it was time to gather up the pack. I needed to tell them about my discovery about Paul and it needed to be done while Jake and Collin were away. Today was perfect. I had been observing them both and I found out that Jake, Angela, Collin, and Linda were going to Seattle for the weekend. I waited until they left, then I phased and trailed their vehicle to make sure they were really heading there. I had just returned to La Push now and had sent text messages to everyone to meet me in our secret spot, as wolves. I, then, phased back into a wolf again and waited. Sam was the first to arrive, then Brady, followed by Embry, and Quil. Seth arrived about twenty minutes after everyone because he had been in the middle of interrogating a suspect that was just arrested. Leah arrived even later than Seth did.

"_You'd better have a good reason why I suddenly had to come out here looking all furry. I had to pump enough breast milk for the baby to last twenty-four hours just in case. You know that I haven't phased __in seven years, don't you?"_ Leah complained.

"_Aw, hell, Leah. Was it really necessary to show us the image of you pumping breast milk?" _ Sam asked.

"_Yes! I don't like to be disturbed when I'm pumping milk. It's supposed to be a tranquil and intimate time."_

"_Does the milk really spray out like that?"_ Embry asked, alarmed. He and Paul were the only two wolves without kids._ "Why are you massaging your tits?"_

"_It helps to let down the milk,"_ Brady answered.

"_What the hell is that shit you're rubbing on your nipples? Why the fuck are your nipples so huge?"_

"_It's probably lanolin so her nipples don't crack. Are you using Lansinoh Cream?" _Quil surmised._ "They get big during pregnancy in preparation for breastfeeding."_

"_Yeah, it really helps. Izzy's a biter,"_ Leah said.

"_Alright, can we get down to business instead of discussing my sister's tits? I really don't feel comfortable talking about her breastfeeding."_ Seth then turned to me, _"Why are we here?"_

"_I have news and this was the best way to get it to you. You know how the reservation isn't safe anymore with Fuller and crew fucking around with our lives. Sorry, Brady."_

"_That's okay—I know my dad is the scum of the earth. I try to avoid talking to him, besides—I have news too."_

"_Alright, you start," _ I urged.

"_He, Old Man Quil, and Jake are going to press charges against Paul for bodily injury because of some shit that went down when they went to Phoenix. I heard them talking the other day. They're going to do it on a tribal level because the Forks Police Department refuses to get involved. Basically, Charlie told them to shove it up their asses."_

"_Why? What did Paul do?"_ Seth asked.

"_I couldn't see what went down, but I heard the whole thing. Jess was on the phone with Bella when they forced their way into their house while Paul was at work."_ Embry replayed his memory of what he heard and the rest of us were pissed off. Bella had repeatedly asked them to call when Paul got back home, but apparently one of them shoved Bella to the side and the three of them invited themselves in like a bunch of thugs. It was at that point that Embry called Paul and he rushed home. The rest of the memory matched the one that Paul had told me about. I showed them the memory that Paul showed me.

Everyone was pissed off. Seth told me that they broke a multitude of federal and tribal laws. Jake's role in this was the worst because as a wolf, his number one priority should have been to protect a pack brother's imprint, not move to manhandle her on Fuller's orders.

"_Let me show you what I discovered when I was going through the tribal archives and you tell me what __you think as it relates to Paul and Bella." _ I went through what I read, and I just re-read it recently when I got back too so it was fresh. Then, I told them about how Paul marked Bella the first time they were together.

All of us, put our stock into the tribal archives because, so far, every snippet of information that we've run across has come true. For example, Leah being the lone female wolf in our pack was predicted. From the archives, we knew that she would be the only she-wolf ever and that any of our future female children would not have the ability to phase. We also knew that we were considered the great coming of wolves and we were waiting for the Great Protector—who we all now believed to be Paul. Everything that I've read in the legends have come to fruition so far. I knew that the Cullens wouldn't be returning to the area either, therefore limiting the traffic of vampires in the area to next to nothing. We were most likely going to be the last of the Quileutes to phase. A few years ago, the Cullens sold their house in Forks to a development company that tore it down, ripped up the forest surrounding it, and was in the process of building a string of townhouses. The area was no longer vampire friendly—so to speak. The female Cullens returned to town just to empty the house of their belongings, and that was only for a day. I saw them approach Charlie Swan's house and take a look into Bella's room from a tree limb, but there was no evidence of her left. In fact, by then, Charlie had married Sue and had moved to La Push. Leah and Eric were living in the house. The mother vampire asked the short one with the visions if Bella was happy. She replied by saying that she didn't know because she no longer got visions of Bella. The last thing she saw was Edward breaking up with her in the most hurtful way in the forest and Bella taking it so badly that she became catatonic. The three of them left, disheartened—never to return.

"_Okay, so what did the archives say we needed to do?"_ Brady asked.

"_Isn't it obvious? We have to pledge our loyalty to the Great Protector in his presence. Jake will no longer have the ability to give us an alpha order,"_ Quil said. _"What time is it? We need to run to Phoenix, make Paul phase, then pledge our allegiance to him."_

"_Stop running through the Pledge of Allegiance, Sam!"_ Leah chastised.

"_I can't help it! Quil said 'pledge' and 'allegiance' in one line and now it keeps running through my brain."_

Great, now the rest of us were saying the Pledge of Allegiance. _"I pledge allegiance, to the flag of the United States of America..."_

"_It was a little after two in the afternoon when I left the station. I think if we start now, we can get to Phoenix in a little over five hours. I'm pretty sure we run at a speed of about three hundred miles per hour because we can get to Seattle in a half an hour," _ Seth informed us. _"Sam, Jared—you know how to get to their house once we get to Phoenix, right?"_

"_Yeah, I can't wait to have more of that Caramel Macchiato," _Sam mused.

"_Why the hell are you talking Starbucks, asshole, this is business,"_ Embry stated. Sam and I both showed him an image of Paul, in a green apron, working at Starbucks. We all started laughing.

"_Screw calling him the Great Protector, we should call him the Great Barista instead. Does he really __have a commercial coffee machine in his kitchen?" _Quil asked.

"_Are you kidding, he has the entire Starbuck's coffee bar set up in one corner of his kitchen. To be honest, I think the guy has a tendency to go a little overboard. You'll see what I mean when we get to his house. I mean, for fuck's sake, he has a jacuzzi and a spa shower installed in every bathroom."_ I looked around to make sure that everyone had their clothes attached to their hind paw. Our cell phones and our wallets were secured inside a zipped pocket in our shorts so we would have a means of getting around when we phased back to human form. _"Alright, let's roll."_

We started running at what we thought was top speed and arrived in Paul's neighborhood around nine pm. We should have gotten there over an hour ago.

"_Jeez! We're all out of shape. This took a hell of a lot longer than it should have," _Sam panted.

"_No, shit, my gut kept getting in the way of my hind paws,"_ Quil said. _"I think I need to work out more often."_

"_Fucker, the only workout that I've seen you doing lately is raising your fork to your mouth!"_

"_You should talk, Sam. It's not like you're the workout king. When was the last time you worked out?"_

Sam showed us an image of him working out with Paul. _"Oh, yeah, Sam, you worked out once with Paul, three weeks ago. I hardly think one workout in five years counts."_

"_That's more than you assholes. Besides, I'm going back to working out, just as soon as my muscles recover."_

He flashed an image of him groaning in pain and sitting in Paul's jacuzzi, attempting to make the pain go away.

"_Did it hurt that much, man?" _I asked.

"_Dude, the psychotic freak does some specialized circuit training that baseball players do. His father-in-law taught him."_

"_Who, Charlie? Um, there's no way that he works out, unless you count picking up and putting down a beer can," Seth stated._

"_No, Bella's mother's new husband. He's a baseball coach."_

"_Fuck me! Is this really his house? It looks like a hotel," _ Leah commented.

We had finally arrived just outside Paul's backyard. We phased back to human form, threw our clothes on, and slid the sliding glass door open. Sam and I led everyone to the living room where a dumbstruck Paul and Bella were staring at us.

"Hi, we're hungry. Got anything to eat?" Quil asked. "I could use a Cafe Mocha, oh Great Barista."

"Uh, I'm gonna go and rustle up some food," Bella stated, scratching her head.

"What the hell are you guys doing here? Did you run here?" Paul asked, completely aghast.

"Come with us to your backyard. We have something to discuss with you in wolf form." I led everyone to the wide expanse of desert that led from beyond his pool area. We all took our clothes off and phased. We showed Paul our discussion from a few hours earlier.

"_There's no way that I'm the Great Protector!"_ Paul stated with conviction.

"_You've got to be man. The legends said that the Great Protector would be among our pack. It has to be you—you fit the criteria."_

"_No fucking way! I don't even live in La Push."_

"_You don't have to live there. You're the only one that marked your imprint on the first go and you marked her 'at a great distance from tribal lands.' Bella fits the mold, too—she had great knowledge of our world prior to being imprinted upon plus she's a nurse, so she's a healer."_

"_Fuck it. Let's just get this over with. He's being stubborn,"_ Quil stated._ "I, Quil Ateara the Fifth pledge my allegiance to my brother Paul Lahote—the Great Protector, true spirit warrior, and rightful Alpha of the Pack."_

We all repeated what Quil said and felt a sudden internal shift within our bodies that gave us an overwhelming sense of peace.

"_Give us an Alpha order, man,"_ Quil said.

"_Quil, I give you an Alpha order to phase back to human form and do sit-ups until I tell you to stop."_

He immediately phased to human form and started doing sit-ups. "Hey, can I stop now? My abs hurt."

Paul ordered him to stop and he phased back to wolf form. _"Quil, I give you an Alpha order to do at least two hundred sit-ups a day."_

"_Are you serious, man? I'm too out of shape to do that much."_

"_It's an alpha order. I just want to see if it holds long term. Start with fifty sit-ups, then."_

"_How about twenty-five? I mean fifty is a lot for a guy like me. I'm man enough to admit that I'm a pussy."_

"_Nope, fifty, and that's an alpha order." _Paul turned to all of us. _"Why don't we phase back and hang out in the house? We'll figure this all out. Brady, thanks for the heads up regarding the tribe pressing charges against me. I'll give my attorney a call. Leah? Why the hell are your tits leaking?"_

"_I'm two feedings overdue. I need a breastpump. I'm telling you, my boobs are heavy dangling in front of me when I'm in wolf form. It slows down my running. I wonder if there's some sort of supportive nursing bra that I can wear while in wolf form?"_

"_I don't know about a wolf nursing bra, but I'll call Bella and have her bring you a breastpump."_

We phased back and went into his house. True to his word, Paul called Bella about Leah. Apparently, she had run to the supermarket. Bella came back an hour later with groceries, a breastpump, and a nursing bra for Leah.

She sent all of us men out to grab the groceries from the bed of Paul's truck and sent Leah upstairs to pump her breasts.

She got to work in the kitchen and a few minutes later, she handed me and Paul two plates piled high with ribs and barbeque sauce and told us to get to grilling. Sam came running behind us with tongs and a grilling fork.

"How the fuck did you get them to do that?" Leah asked. "By the way, I like that electric pump so much better than my manual one at home. I ran here so I can't bring it home though."

"I'll ship it to you on Monday. As for Sam and Jared cooking, I just told them when they were visiting, that if they were staying here, they shouldn't expect me to do all of the cooking. Paul's better than I am at grilling anyway."

Embry surprised us by standing by us and giving us some grilling tips. In the end, we just handed the tongs off to him and let him handle it. By the time we were done, Bella and Leah had prepared the side dishes and we were chowing down on probably the most juicy ribs we've ever tasted.

"Embry, where did you learn to grill ribs like this?" Bella asked.

"Jessica's dad. The man should open up a restaurant, he's like the king of grilling. He does his ribs in a smoker."

Paul's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store. "No, Paul, the grill's enough. We don't need a smoker too," Bella stated, firmly.

During dinner, we explained to Bella about Paul and the legend of the Great Protector and that he was our new Alpha. Even she agreed that Paul had to be the one. After that, Paul finally accepted his new role. Geez. We should have just had her tell him from the get go.

"Hey, Bella, where's your little Beetle?" Sam asked. "I didn't see it in the garage."

"It was stolen yesterday and the bastards who took it totaled it in California."

"That's harsh, Emily really liked driving it."

"Yeah, me too. So, are you all staying the night? Tomorrow's Sunday."

"If it's okay with you, we'd love to be able to rest before running back to La Push. We didn't realize how out of shape we were. It took us a lot longer to get up here than we estimated."

"Sure, we'd love to have you stay. I'll get some of Paul's clothes out so you guys can put something clean on after you bathe. Leah, you can fit into my stuff. My pants are probably too short for you, but you can definitely fit my shorts or my capris. If you bring me your clothes I'll throw them in the washer for you. Um, I hope you all told your imprints what you were up to. They're probably feeling the distance by now."

"Oh shit!" we all exclaimed at once and got to calling them stating that we had secret pack business that was to remain hidden from Jake, Collin, and the elders for now. They were very receptive. None of them liked the three goons so they were more than willing to keep it from them. Jake and Collin were gone until Monday night anyway so it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Paul then changed the subject. "Well, I'm glad you guys are here. I actually have a proposal for Brady, Embry, and Quil. Sam and Jared already know about it." He then went on to explain to them about the highway project. I had never seen Brady look so relieved in his life when he offered him a job. He didn't get into salaries or any details like that—he said he'd go over that later with him in private. He, did, however say that it would be a permanent position.

"Now, Embry and Quil, I need your help with this project too." He brought down the schematics for the highway and showed them how it needed a fuckton of wiring for the lighting on the highway and in the tunnel system. It would also need wiring for a huge ventilation system within the tunnels. "It could be a contractual job or I could hire you on permanently. I'm short on qualified electricians at the moment and I've been scrambling to find good ones. We can discuss the details over the phone later."

"This is a huge job and a big move. I'd have to discuss it with Rachel," Quil said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't expect you to not discuss it with her. I understand that you both own a successful business in Forks, too, but I'm at the level of desperation here so I figured that it couldn't hurt to ask. Think about it and let me know as soon as you can. I'd make you both foremen on the electrical team, of course. I don't want to get into specifics about salary, but I'll at least go over the benefits."

He explained what his company had to offer and Embry stated that it would be a relief to him because Jessica would no longer have health insurance as of August 31st. Although schools are only in session from September through June—contracts lasted throughout the summer so any benefits would also extend through the end of August. I felt so stupid, everyone seemed to know what benefits were except for me. I was so used to everything being taken care of by the tribe that I had no idea what the world outside of La Push was like.

"Jared, how's that GED coming along?"

"Okay, I guess. The reading part is fine. It's funny, I find it more interesting now than I did when I was actually in school. The math is killing me, though."

"Eric can help you with the math. He's a whiz at it," Leah offered. I keep forgetting that Eric is geek personified.

"Eric used to help me with my math too. I wouldn't have gotten through calculus without him," Bella stated as she put a huge, delicious looking strawberry dessert in the middle of the table. "It's strawberry trifle."

"Damn, that looks good. Paul, I could use some of that Decaf Caramel Macchiato now," Sam ordered it like he was in a restaurant.

"Yeah, me too. You look cute in a green apron," Seth chuckled.

Paul rolled his eyes at us and we all watched our new Alpha get to work at his coffee bar. "I just want a skinny decaf latte, honey," Bella called after him. "I'll tell you something, having your own personal barista at home is handy. I only have to stop in for coffee when I'm running late."

We had coffee and desserts and hung out for a while longer. Eventually, we all hit the sack. I could hear all of the jacuzzi tubs running in the other rooms. All of us were relaxing in the closest thing to a resort that we'd ever been to. I planned on taking a dip in the pool tomorrow plus Paul promised us more of that yummy double porterhouse steak for lunch.

_**Two weeks later...**_

Paul was totally awesome. We didn't have to run home because he hooked us all up with plane tickets and threw us on an 8pm flight that got us into Seattle around eleven pm. From there, we just walked to a wooded area, then ran home to La Push. It only took us twenty-five minutes after we started running.

Our impromptu trip to Phoenix turned out great. We got our new Alpha, Brady got a job, and Quil and Embry were thinking about it. Leah and Seth wanted to stay in La Push because that's where their roots were. They were fine, though. Seth had a steady job and so did Eric. They both made enough money to support their families and they were very close to Charlie and Sue. Before we left, Paul gave me an Alpha order to stay on target with my GED—that way I couldn't fuck around. I, actually, asked him to give me one because I get so easily distracted. I really wanted to get this job for Kim and the babies.

**Jacob's POV**

Collin and I had just gotten out of a meeting with the tribal elders. The decision has been made to press charges against Paul for threatening Tony and me and for causing bodily injury to Tony. He left marks on his neck when he shoved him against the wall. Luckily, we took photos of the marks so we have proof that'll stand up in a court of law. At the same time, Tony and Mr. Ateara are charging Paul with blatantly disobeying tribal orders. Not only did he not inform us of the fact that he imprinted, he also went off and married his imprint in some fancy wedding off of tribal land. Honestly, it was ridiculous. He should have respected tribal traditions and gotten married the Quileute way, by the elders, in front of a bonfire. They should have both been wearing traditional Quileute attire—not the tuxedo and white gown they were wearing in the wedding photo on their mantel.

Honestly, I'm glad that I imprinted on Angela. She respects the traditions and she understands the way our tribe and the pack operates. Frankly, I'm surprised that Bella was so disrespectful to me and the elders. She should know that I'm the alpha. I claimed that position once I imprinted on Angela. She's probably still upset about the fact that I imprinted on Angela instead of her. I could understand why, too, especially now that she's imprinted on Paul. It must drive Bella crazy to know that she came so close to imprinting on the Alpha, but it's obvious that Taha Aki felt that she wasn't good enough to be the Alpha's mate. Pfft. She wasn't even good enough to be a Beta's mate. That honor went to Linda, Collin's imprint. She and my Angela are best friends.

At one point, Angela and Bella were best friends, but Bella decided to be immature and she stopped talking to us after she discovered that Angela was my imprint. Angela and I were her only friends at that point and she threw our friendship in our faces by becoming jealous about us instead of celebrating our imprint. We thought she'd be happy for us. All I know is that I'm glad that I'm not saddled with her ass, Paul can keep her.

I had to admit, though, that Bella was still absolutely breathtaking, though. There was a time when I thought that she would be my forever, but...stop Jacob...Angela is your imprint. You're happy, besides Bella simply has no respect for the Quileutes and their traditions.

Angela and I have four kids: William, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca. They're good kids. Angela and I both work, but luckily we have family members that watch the kids for us. My father often takes William fishing together with Charlie Swan and Seth. I'm glad that he has great role models to look up to. In fact, all of my pack brothers have taken him under their wing and they've been teaching him the ways of our world. For that I am grateful. Jared, Sam, and Quil, especially, have been very good to him—Will is friends with their oldest sons and he frequently goes to one of their homes for dinner.

The tribal demand that Paul return to La Push is exactly what needs to happen. Though he's not my favorite and having Bella on the reservation is not an ideal situation, they need to return to La Push and face the consequences of their actions. They'll also be ordered to annul their marriage and remarry on Quileute land. We'll be teaching them both who runs the Quileutes. I can't wait until Angela gives Bella an alpha's wife's order to obey the pack alpha and the tribal laws. She'll soon learn the meaning of the word respect.

**So, what are your thoughts on this chapter? Let me know in a review and I promise to send a reply. XOXO mama4dukes**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you for all of your fabulous reviews. I think Jacob has become public enemy number one as far as this story is concerned. Without further ado, I present the next chapter.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer except for the original characters. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.  
><strong>

**Bella's POV**

"I'm serious Bella, that's what she said to me. She asked if I'd like to attend a Botox party because she saw a wrinkle developing around my left eye."

I was helping Babs plant some vegetable plants that she had started in her garden. We were on our knees and covered in dirt, but it felt nice to be working outside for once.

"I swear, some of these women are so concerned about their looks. Don't they realize that all of that Botox and plastic surgery isn't going to stop the hands of time? They're so out of touch with reality."

"I know, when I invited Meg to come and help today, she tried to send her gardener over to me. She actually felt bad that I had to do the planting by myself. I tried to explain that I actually enjoyed it, but she looked at me and said that she didn't realize that Crispy wasn't making ends meet."

We started howling. Some of the wives that we had to deal with occasionally for our husband's sakes were completely clueless. Most of them couldn't understand why Babs and I worked. They also couldn't understand why we didn't hire people to clean our homes or do our landscaping.

Babs and Crispy were close friends of our ours. Babs was a pediatric nurse practitioner at Children's Hospital of Phoenix while Crispy was a lawyer for the Department of Education. They were both members of the Wa-Ya Indian Nation south of Phoenix. When Paul talked to Crispy about the Quileute elders and how they were trying to demand that we annul our marriage and remarry on tribal land, he became livid and took on our case. He does a lot of work for his tribe and has contacts within the American Indian Policy Center and the Bureau of Indian Affairs—both agencies have been given the heads up about the situation with Paul.

"How are you boys doing? Are you ready for some lunch?" Babs called to our husbands. Paul was helping Crispy reseal his driveway.

"Almost done. Can one of you lay some newspaper on the bottom step? We won't be able to use these shoes anymore—the soles are covered in driveway sealant."

"I'll do it," Babs said to my husband. She went in the house to grab some newspaper to lay out. We all went to their patio for lunch afterwards.

In the middle of lunch, Paul's cell phone rang. He answered it and immediately started frowning.

"No, you can't order me back to La Push. I didn't do anything wrong...What the hell do you mean that I caused bodily harm to Fuller? He laid his hands on my wife first...Oh, so you're just going to take his words verbatim just because he's a tribal elder? Did it ever occur to you to get both sides of the story first? No, I won't be returning to La Push." With that, Paul ended his call.

"What the hell was that all about?" Crispy asked Paul, concerned.

"That was Travis Johnson—he's the Chief of Police on the Quileute reservation. He asked me to return to La Push with Bella to face charges of insubordination and for violence against a tribal elder. Of course, he failed to mention the fact that the three goons entered my house first and laid their hands on my wife."

"Okay, first of all, they can't order Bella back to La Push at all. They have no legal jurisdiction whatsoever over her because she's not a member of the Quileute Indian Nation. Second, they can't order you back without a court order. Simply calling you on your cell phone is not admissible by any court of law so, legally speaking, that phone call didn't happen at all. Now, if they ca..."

Crispy was interrupted by Paul's cell phone ringing again. "What? I'm sorry, did you just say that you're ordering my wife and I to annul our marriage and remarry on tribal lands? On what basis? Hell, no! You know something else, we can't remarry because the marriage has already been consummated over and over again!"

Paul was now seething. He was so angry after the phone call that he stood up and started stomping around the back deck where we were having lunch al fresco and...oh...shit...holy fuck...he just phased; smack dab in front of Babs and Crispy who, surprisingly, didn't look shocked at all. Crispy calmly moved in front of his wife and me and...motherfucker...did Crispy just turn into the biggest fucking coyote I've ever seen? I can't take this shit...

When I came to a few minutes later, I was lying on Babs's living room sofa in Paul's arms. He was dabbing a wet washcloth on my forehead. I looked at my husband, then at Crispy, then promptly decided to pass out again because, honestly speaking, after vampires and wolves, I wasn't sure if I could handle the story of the giant coyote.

"Um, honey, I know you haven't really fainted again so I wish you'd wake up because I really want to hear Crispy's story. I've already told him our story, by the way," my husband chuckled while continuing to dab the washcloth on my forehead.

"Why me?" I whimpered.

"I'd say you're some sort of a supernatural magnet. Come on, baby, after vampires and wolves—a coyote should be a walk in the park," Paul sounded unusually relaxed.

I sat up and a smiling Babs offered me a cold bottle of water. Crispy had a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. I just noticed how pointy his ears are. Must be a coyote thing. I cuddled up into Paul's arms and took a deep breath then looked up at Crispy, prompting him to explain.

**Crispy's POV**

I wasn't surprised that Paul was a mythological creature at all. His scent has always smelled a little different from a normal human. He smelled like a bar of milk chocolate for God's sake. When I met his friend, Sam, from his tribe—he smelled a bit different too. Sam smelled like vanilla cake. It was interesting how in his tribe, the wives scents complemented their husbands. For example, Sam's wife, Emily, smelled like bananas and together they made a banana muffin. Paul and Bella together made the finest strawberry dipped in chocolate—like the ones they sold at Godiva.

When Paul shifted, I reacted calmly like I had been taught. I moved in front of the women to keep them safe, then I changed into a coyote. Bella fainted right away. Paul, seeing his wife in distress, returned to human form and tended to her right away. We brought Bella into the living room and cooled her down. At that point, Paul told me his story. I told him that he would hear mine, but we would wait until Bella came to again.

Bella had finally composed herself and was looking at me pointedly. This was my cue. "Guys, we need to go for a ride. I can't tell you my story here. Pack rules."

"Okay, let's go." Paul and Bella followed us in their car to the Wa-Ya Reservation. Along the way, I called my pack brothers and told them to meet me at our rendezvous point with their mates. We parked at the furthest edge of the reservation and walked to a covered area.

"You'll need to turn into a wolf. Can you carry Bella on your back? If not, I can do it," I said.

"No, I can. Bella, you've ridden on the back of a wolf before, haven't you?" he asked.

"Um, no, only vampireback." He he, vampireback...that was kind of funny.

"Well, just climb on my back and wrap your arms around my neck. I'll go slowly, I promise."

We took our clothes off, stored them in a hidden compartment in a tree stump, then went out to greet the girls. Babs climbed on my back and Bella on Paul's. I led them up a canyon then back down to the other side by the Gila River where my pack brothers had started a fire.

As soon as they all saw Paul the wolf, they shifted into coyote form. _"Stand down. He's okay. We're here to explain what happened," _I communicated mentally. They returned to human form as soon as I did. Paul did the same.

"Whoa, you're my boss!" Manny exclaimed. "Awesome!"

"Yep and now I have an explanation as to why you were able to move that concrete storm drain pipe over with your bare hands," Paul replied.

"Ah, Mrs. Lahote, have you had any more trouble from those three goons from Washington that threatened you?" Barry asked.

"Oh my God, you're the officer that came to our house when they threatened my wife. No wonder you knew about tribal relations," Paul commented.

This was good. If Barry was the officer that escorted the three fuckers off of the Lahote's property, he would know their scents as well.

I decided to get started. "Paul, Bella—welcome to the Wa-Ya Brotherhood. I am the Alpha of the pack and these are my brother coyotes: Randall, Barry, Jeff, and you've met Manny. Mina, Cheyenne, Lisa, and Penny are their mates. If you don't mind, I'd like to share your story with them and how we came to shift in front of each other before I tell you what we are and what we do."

I quickly ran through Paul's story with his help, then I started my story. "We are the Wa-Ya Brotherhood. We originated many centuries ago when our lands were being threatened by slave traders. The Wa-Ya Nation has always prided itself on it's farming skills. From long ago, we were able to cultivate crops using the water from the Gila River that runs alongside our land. The slave traders saw this and, one day, invaded our lands and stole our women while the men were out hunting. Our ancestors were, of course, incensed by this. They initiated a search party and we soon found our women being held in a large ship docked along the Colorado River. Some of our ancestors understood English and overheard that they planned on returning for the men and any children over the age of ten. They planned on leaving the rest to die. Night fell and the slave traders all went to sleep. Our ancestors snuck onto the ship and released the women and ran back to our tribal lands with them. About a week later, the enraged slave traders returned to our lands and started forcefully grabbing our people, shooting anyone that got in the way. Our ancestors fought back, but were easily overpowered by their guns. The men started praying desperately to the gods, no one responded except for one—the god of the underworld. He agreed to help us, but future generations of the five men destined to help would forever more be afflicted with the condition he gave them. They would be tribal protectors and have great strength, but future generations would have to sacrifice their eldest sons to the god of the underworld to be afflicted with the same condition. Their families would forever more be representatives of the underworld on this earth. The men agreed and they were turned into giant coyotes. The slave traders were instantly destroyed and our tribe worked to restore the tranquil agrarian society that they had created prior to the arrival of the slave traders. We are the direct descendants of those men."

"Fuck me!" Paul muttered.

"Why are you so shocked my friend, you were created to battle vampires. By the way, in Oklahoma there is a peaceful tribe of about a hundred that consists solely of vampires. They have never harmed a human and survive only on the blood of predatory animals. They were created because they prayed to the god of the underworld for help with the famine their tribe was experiencing. He agreed to help, but they would be the last of their generation and would live for eternity, never to experience famine again. Their children would be afflicted with the same condition once they reached the age of eighteen. They must also continue to grow crops for the surrounding villages and they will never be able to venture outside in sunlight."

"Dude, I was created to destroy vampires, why are you telling me this stuff?"

"I'm telling you because all mythological worlds must live together in harmony. In the end, we were all created to protect our people and maintain peace within our tribes."

"I guess you're right. When I think about it, the Cullens, they were the vampires that Bella knew—lived in peace and harmony. It was only the human eating nomadic vampires that were bloodthirsty," Paul explained.

"Well, Paul, now that I know your whole story, I'll be able to help you better when you deal with your tribal elders." I went on to explain Paul's situation with the tribal council to my pack brothers.

"I'm a lawyer for the Office of Justice Services in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Paul. I'm extremely interested in hearing your story in more detail, Paul," Jeff said to him. "Perhaps over a round of golf?"

"Sure, we'll exchange contact information later."

"Hey, is there any way that we can meet your brother wolves?" Randall asked.

"I'd like to meet their mates, too," Mina, Randall's wife, said.

"Most of them will be here by the end of the summer to work for me, but I suppose we can have them fly up for a visit one weekend. It might actually be fun."

"Oh, that would be nice. We could have a cookout," Mina said, excitedly.

"Uh, boss, would you put one of the wolves with me on my crew? I'm sick of these weak guys that can't lift anything without a forklift," Manny pleaded.

"Sure, I'll put Brady with you. He's new to construction with only a year of experience, but by all accounts he's a hard worker."

"Awesome! I'll teach him everything I know. I've been in construction for five years now."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Bella, you've been quiet this evening. You're usually a bit more chatty," I said. She had been sitting and observing us all evening without opening her mouth which was rare. She usually runs her mouth as much as Babs.

"Oh, I'm just enjoying the view. You guys all realize that you're buck naked, right?"

"Shouldn't you be used to it by now? I'm sure that you've seen Paul's pack brothers in the buff."

"No, not really. They usually strap their clothes onto their paw," she informed us.

"How?" we all asked, simultaneously.

"Easy, I can show you when we get back to our clothes if you'd like," Paul offered. "You can carry your wallet and cell with you, too."

"Hey, how fast can you guys run?" Jeff asked.

"I'm not sure. One of my pack brothers estimates about three hundred miles per hour. But most of them are out of shape now so it may be down to about two hundred miles per hour. How about you guys?"

"I think about the same. We made it from here to Las Vegas in an hour. That's about three hundred miles. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay because we had no clothes or money with us. We had to turn around and run back."

We exchanged tidbits of information about being different types of shapeshifters. It was interesting because we shared many more similarities than differences. I wonder if the god of the underworld created them, too. The main difference was that, in our case, each generation had it's own pack. In their case, they would go many generations without wolves. Another interesting tidbit was that they actually had a she-wolf among their pack.

We talked for a bit more before heading back to the tree where our clothes were stored. Manny's wife, Penny, invited us all over to her house for dinner. We all accepted considering we coyotes were all famished from shifting. I think Paul was hungry too because he put away a dozen hot dogs by himself, at least. All of our wives were accustomed to our eating habits though. Actually, come to think of it, Paul always did put away a lot of food.

"So, Paul? Your friend Sam that you introduced me to about a month ago, is he a wolf too?" I asked.

"Yeah, he was actually the first to phase."

"Phase?"

"That's what we call shifting," he explained.

"Interesting. Emily is his mate?"

"Well, yeah, we call our mates imprints. Bella is my imprint, but I'm her mate. Am I making any sense to you at all?"

"I think so, you call your mate an imprint because you actually imprint your mark on her—like the one on her neck," I surmised.

"You know something, that explanation actually makes the most sense—I never thought about it that way and neither have the guys from the pack. Do you mark your mates?"

"Yes, on their necks like you. Um, it's done when...um...when..."

"It's done when we're both cumming together," Manny interrupted. "Don't mind Crispy, his ears get all red when talking about sex."

"They do not, you asshole!" I argued.

"Yeah, they do," Paul chuckled. "They're flaming red right now."

Paul was completely relaxed. He looked relieved to finally be able to share his story with someone. Frankly, I felt the same way and I bet so did my guys. Paul and I were very similar, he and I both had successful careers and we had to hobnob with society's so-called 'elite' in order to maintain that success and so did our wives. That's how we met. Paul's company was working on a couple of school buildings for the state and I was the lawyer representing the Department of Education. Over the weekend, we hit it off while playing the mandatory round of golf at the club. I didn't see him for a while after that. We met again at a reception hosted by the governor; this time he brought his, then, girlfriend Tina. Babs hated her, she couldn't stand the sight of her, in fact. She said that if you could bottle up airhead, money-grabber, and selfish, then added saline to her tits—you'd get Tina. She did, however, like Paul very much. Eventually, Paul and I started hitting the tennis and golf courses on our own for fun. I'd invite him to my house for lunch or drinks afterwards because Tina wouldn't be with him, then. He was much more at ease without her anyway.

About two years ago, Paul showed up to a charity dinner grinning from ear to ear with a new girl on his arm. This girl was gorgeous and Paul stuck to her side like glue, as if he were protecting her from those that would harm her. Babs didn't even want to bother meeting her, but she did anyway to keep up with social graces. I remember the first time we met Bella well.

"_Babs, Crispy, I want to introduce you to my girlfriend, Isabella Swan. Bella, meet Barbara and Crispin Hodges, very close friends of mine. Crispy is an attorney with the Department of Education and Babs is a pediatric nurse practitioner at Children's Hospital."_

"_Oh, a pleasure to meet you." _Bella extended her hand out for us to shake with a warm smile. We both shook her hand and then made some polite conversation. Babs was downright rude towards Bella. She had her chin tilted up, her nose up in the air, and eventually she started rolling her eyes up towards the ceiling. She liked Paul and didn't like the idea of anyone using him like Tina did.

The director of the Good Samaritan Medical Center in Phoenix approached us with his wife. We were getting ready to do the standard greeting when he spoke first, _"Bella, what in God's name are you doing here at this fufu shindig? Shouldn't you be delivering babies?"_

"_After last night? Hmm...I might just give up being a midwife and become a social climber instead. My goodness, I must have delivered about twenty babies. I can't wait to get home and hit the sack, I still haven't been home yet."_ Bella hugged both Dr. and Mrs. Greenbriar.

"_Don't you dare quit your career, the hospital would be lost without you. Besides, you wouldn't do well as a social climber, you can't stand fake people. When are you going to quit working for Tom and come and work for me?"_

"_Now, Rich, if I worked for you—you'd harness me to the maternity ward so I couldn't leave. I like Tom, I've known him since I was five—he was my doctor growing up. Anyway, he's already seen me naked so all of the formalities are out of the way," _Bella chuckled.

"_Hey, now I've known you since you were a little sprite myself. I still remember that flat tire you and Katherine got after that rock concert you went to." _Rich then turned to us._ "My daughter Katherine and Bella grew up together. When they were sixteen they went to their first rock concert together and got a flat tire on the way home. I was on my way home from an eighteen hour shift in the ER when, lo and behold, I see the two of them on the side of the road attempting to change a flat. Naturally, I pulled over to help them. When I got out of my car, I noticed that they already had the tire off and I was very proud of them. That is until I realized that they had pulled the wrong tire off plus they didn't have a spare. I ended up calling a tow truck, driving them back home, and lecturing them about being prepared in case of an emergency for two hours until Margaret here told me to shut the hell up and let the girls get to bed."_

We all laughed at hearing that. _"So, Bella, I'm assuming you're here with Paul unless Crispy's two-timing Babs."_

"_Yes, I am. I've actually known Paul since high school in Washington."_

"_Good, good, how about a round of golf with the women on Sunday at the club, Paul? You, too, Crispy—I have some ideas I'd like to discuss with you. The hospital is adding a new wing."_

"_Sure, we'll see you, then. Call me with a tee-time. Hold on, Bella, do you golf?" _Paul asked.

"_Pfft, she grew up in Camelback East, Paul. You can't breathe without being able to golf. I taught her myself together with Katherine. She'll probably kick your ass on the links," _Mrs. Greenbriar chuckled.

"_Call my office with a tee time and we'll see you on Sunday."_

"_Same here,"_ I piped in.

Dr. and Mrs. Greenbriar left and we all talked some more. Babs was finally at ease with Bella when she realized that she was smart, had her own career, and most importantly—was about as down to earth as anyone could be. After the golf game the following Sunday, we were both pretty sure that she was "the one" for Paul. Sure enough, a year later, the two of them eloped in Las Vegas.

"Hey, Crispy, I just called my pack brothers up. I'm flying them and their imprints into Phoenix next weekend."

"Great! We can have a cookout at my house. I want to test out that new outdoor kitchen that you helped me install. Hey, could you ask Bella to make some of that potato salad of hers? I'm kind of craving it."

"Which one? The one with the macaroni or the one with the apples and cucumbers?"

"Apples and cucumbers."

"Yeah, I like that one too. I'll have her make a ton so you have some leftover."

We soon broke the impromptu party up and headed for our homes. We were all looking forward to getting to know Paul's brother wolves next weekend. I also wanted to get Paul alone during the week and hear the real story behind his tribal council's vendetta against him.

**Paul's POV**

As soon as I pulled into the garage, I was attached to Bella's lips. My protective instincts came out as soon as I saw Crispy shift into a coyote. Then, when I saw the rest of his pack, my instincts went into overdrive. I knew they meant no harm, but I had a need to dominate my imprint to prove to her and to myself that she was mine.

I carried my imprint out of the car and laid her on the dining room table and proceeded to take her clothes off. I needed to claim her, right now, making our way up to the bedroom wasn't an option, it was too far. As soon as she was naked, I pulled Bella down so her legs were dangling off of the table and plunged straight into her wet pussy.

Bella's arms were flailing as she tried to reach out for me, but I wasn't going to have any of that. I threw her legs over my shoulders then steadied her arms so that they were held in place over her head with my one hand. I pounded into her without stopping—taking long, hard strokes so that I was fully sheathed within her with each thrust. She was screaming in ecstasy. Her tight walls felt like heaven around my cock and I planned on letting her feel each and every euphoric feeling that I was experiencing. Over and over again, I kept going until we both peaked with our own screams. I took my imprint and sunk my teeth into her neck. I felt her second orgasm pulsate around me. I didn't even have time to come down from my frenzy as I fucked her again—hard, without pulling out, and claimed her for a second time with even more intensity than the first.

When we finally finished, we both had beads of sweat rolling off of our bodies. Bella looked beautiful, sated as she was. I picked my gorgeous wife up, bridal style and cradled her to my body just as the dining table decided to collapse to the floor.

"Uh, honey, I think we need to go furniture shopping tomorrow."

"Yeah, it might be a good idea," Bella giggled.

We decided to go for a midnight skinny dip in the pool before relaxing in our jacuzzi. By the time, we were ready for bed, we were completely exhausted from today's events. I spooned my wife and the two of us were asleep in no time—feeling more relaxed, happy, and satisfied than ever before.

_**Six days later...**_

"Paul, I can't believe you flew us all in for a party. My parents are beginning to think that Kyla and I are abandoning our kids and moving to Arizona," Seth exclaimed.

"What did you guys all do with the kids anyway?" I asked.

"Leah and I left our kids with Charlie and Sue so they're watching six kids plus the baby. Rachel and Quil left their kids with Jacob and Angela. That actually killed two birds with one stone, it eliminated any suspicion because they think they're in Seattle with Jess and Embry relaxing. Not only that, but they won't be able to leave the reservation because of all of the kids they're watching on top of their own."

"Emily and I left our kids with her parents on the Makah reservation along with Jared and Kim's five. Everyone thinks we're just chilling there this weekend," Sam explained.

"What about you, Brady? What did you do?"

"Oh, actually it was easy for us because we live with Missy's parents. No one will even notice that we're gone."

"Hey? Where's Bella? I want to meet her," Missy said.

"She's still at work. She should be home in a couple of hours."

"Ladies, I think we should get to cooking so Bella doesn't have to do anything when she gets home," Emily suggested. "Don't worry Paul, I'll make your muffins."

"That'll be great. Oh, the meat's in the freezer in the garage and I think Bella left steaks out for tonight."

"Um, Paul! Why the fuck do you have a freezer full of meat?" Kim asked. "You didn't have this chest freezer here before."

"Oh, that. My friend Crispy and I went in together and each purchased a side of beef from a cattle ranch. We both didn't realize that we'd end up with that much beef. Bella and Babs, Crispy's wife, were pissed. We both ended up having to run to Sears to buy chest freezers before the meat went bad."

"How is Crispy doing?" Sam asked.

"Good, we're meeting him tomorrow on the Wa-Ya Reservation, then he's hosting a party at his house."

"Hey, is that a new dining room table?"

"Uh, yeah, it is."

"What happened to the old one? It was still brand new."

"There was an accident. Something heavy fell on it and it collapsed."

"That's too bad man, I liked that one. This one's nice, too, though."

The women got to cooking while I hung out with the guys. We discussed what was happening in our tribe. Brady's actually been doing the most spying and he said that he found out that no one that works for any tribal agencies or businesses has gotten a raise in a while. Kim, Missy, and Emily both confirmed that. That told me that there was more shit going on in La Push than I first thought. Whenever people try to leave, Fuller and Old Man Quil, apparently, go through a big spiel about tradition, honor, and keeping with the tribe so all of those things continue. They also tell them about the importance of increasing the population because growth in population means growth in economy, et cetera.

"Yeah, they ran through that bullshit with me and Embry," Jess confirmed.

"I just told them that I preferred living in Forks because I own a house outright there. When Mike and I divorced, I got the house. Those jerks actually had the nerve to tell me that a good wife would live with her husband's family. I basically told them to fuck off and that as a United States citizen, freedom to live wherever the fuck I want to is a constitutional right."

"Yep and just to rankle their nerves even more, she asked them if they'd even heard of the US Constitution," Embry added, proudly.

My cell phone rang, just then. It was Bella. _"Hey, baby, I'm over by Children's Hospital helping Babs out. Her car won't start. We just called for a tow truck, but it's going to take a couple of hours. Crispy's in Flagstaff so he won't be home until later tonight. I'm gonna wait with her, then run her home. I'll be home after that. Is everyone there?"_

"Yeah, they are—the girls have started cooking. What happened to Babs's car?"

"_I don't know, she tried to start it, but the ignition won't even turn."_

"Did you open the hood and check to see if the battery is connected?"

"_I'll ask her, hold on."_

While I was waiting for Bella to get back to me, Quil interrupted. "Hey, I'm pretty handy with cars from hanging out with Jake when I was growing up. Why don't I go take a look at it for her? Two hours is a long wait."

"Bella, I'm going to run down with Quil—he'll look at the car for Babs. Hopefully, it's something minor."

"_That's great, we're on the third level of the main garage. I'll see you in a bit."_

I grabbed some tools then ran Quil down to Children's Hospital. He found the problem instantly, "It's just the end on this battery cable that's corroded. If there's an auto parts store nearby, I can repair it for you and you can be on your way."

A n hour later, the cable was repaired and we were all on our way home. Quil talked to me along the way. "Hey, Paul, you know that job you offered me and Embry? Is it still available?"

"Yeah, of course it is. Do you want the specifics on it?"

"If you don't mind. I told Rachel about it and she's already started packing. I'm not kidding you, half of our house is already boxed up. I'm just worried about working for someone else, no offense man. Embry and I are doing pretty well. We generally clear around fifty-five to sixty thousand dollars a year each. That's pretty good considering we only service the Forks and Port Angeles areas."

"Yeah, that is good, you've really built up your business. I would start you off at sixty-eight thousand a year each. That works out to a little over thirteen hundred dollars a week. I was planning on making you both lead foremen so there would be a bit of traveling involved."

"Shit. I would have done it for fifty thousand you dumb fuck, but I'll take sixty-eight. How do you do it, man? How do you keep all of your figures and plans together?"

"It's really not much different from what you and Embry do, just on a bigger scale. I also have a team of lawyers, accountants, and project managers to help. By the way, if you can stay through Monday, there's an important team meeting regarding the highway reconstruction project that I'd love for you to attend."

"Hey, no problem. Rachel can go home on Sunday night as planned—she has school to teach on Monday, but I don't think we have any jobs scheduled that day. Can I look at the plans ahead of time so I know what I'm facing?" I liked that about Quil. He really planned ahead and thought things through. I was hoping Embry would sign on too because I knew for a fact that he was the same way.

"Yeah, we'll go over the plans together, then I'll let you take a set home to work on it. I'll need you to forward a resume and cover letter to my human resources department to have on file as soon as you get home. Can you manage that?"

"I can do you one better. If you have a printer, I'll just plug my laptop in and print them both out. Rachel made me get them ready as soon as I told her about your offer and that was even before hearing about what you're paying. It'll be great for the kids, too. I need to get Number Six out of that tribal school, he was offered drugs the other day and he came home scared shitless because some juniors threatened him and roughed him up when he wouldn't try it. I swear, man, school wasn't that bad when we were there. Then again, we pretty much ran that school. At least we didn't try to force drugs on eighth-graders or anyone for that matter. Hell, we beat the shit out of drug dealers."

"No kidding. Well, when you and Rachel look around for a place to live, there are certain areas that have better school districts than others. Camelback East, where Bella grew up, has a decent school system, so does Scottsdale. They're not award winning like the one in Paradise Valley, but the majority of kids still go to college. Rachel's going to work, right?"

"Yeah, she's been scouring job listings in the Phoenix area."

"My friend, Crispy, is a lawyer for the Department of Education. He'll be able to give her some tips and maybe even hook her up with a couple of interviews. You'll meet him tomorrow."

With Quil signed on, I was pretty sure that Embry was pretty much in the bag. I was pretty desperate for qualified electricians who could lead the team on site. I had to let the electrical engineer I had on staff go because, though he had a degree in electrical engineering, he had no idea what he was doing in the field. That's when I decided to hire actual electricians rather than electrical engineers. Quil and Embry were perfect. I knew they rewired the tribal school and the Forks Fire Department so they were more than qualified. Wiring for a highway wasn't that difficult. It just took patience and teamwork. I knew they both had insurmountable amounts of that.

When we got home, Embry was in an apron manning what looked like a new barbeque grill with a high tech grilling fork with a temperature gage, and a pair of expensive looking tongs. Jared was calling out instructions next to him.

"What's with those two and what's with that enormous round grill?" I asked Jess.

"Oh, well, ever since Disney, Embry's been on a quest to perfect his steak grilling technique. He has it down to an exact science. He took the rental car to a Home Depot and purchased a charcoal grill for you after he left. Apparently, the steaks come out more flavorful that way. He has a tendency to go a little overboard, but Bella told me that you're like that, too. I mean you bought a whole side of beef."

"Oh she did, did she? She's probably right about that. That's an enormous charcoal grill, though."

"Yeah, I know. It's a Weber Ranch Kettle—it has something like eleven hundred square inches of cooking surface. His reasoning for buying it was that you purchased the side of beef so he had to honor it with a charcoal grill. Hey, I have a question for you? How is the job market for experienced teachers in this area?"

"Pretty good, they actually have a teacher shortage in the state as a whole. You can talk to my friend, Crispy, when you meet him tomorrow. He's a lawyer for the DOE."

"I will, I'm hoping that Embry wants to take your job offer. I think he's capable of so much more than what he and Quil do now."

"I'll talk to him later, Jess. Quil took the job so I have a feeling he'll be jumping aboard, too."

"Dinner is served!" Embry announced.

"Hey, thanks for the new grill, man. You didn't have to do that, the one we have works fine."

"Yes, I did. I don't do half-assed steaks."

"You're a fucking idiot, Embry," Leah said. "Who the hell goes out and spends nine hundred dollars on a charcoal grill?"

"Nine hundred dollars?" Bella questioned in shock. "My God, that's outrageous."

"Meh, it was on sale. Only the best for the best steaks in the world. Besides, since Paul purchased the side of beef, I thought we should honor it."

"I agree," Jared said. "If I had nine hundred bucks, I'd go out and buy this grill too."

"Well, thank you, Embry. You'll have to teach Paul how to use it." Bella, then turned to her steak and took a bite out of it. "This certainly is flavorful."

It was; Embry was a master at grilling. He must have gone nuts practicing. This was actually better than Morton's.

"Thanks, Bella. I actually took a part time job in the evenings in the meat department at Forks Outfitters so I could learn how to butcher meat. If you have a slicer, I can do deli hams and cheeses for you, too."

Uh, yeah, I don't think I go quite as nuts as Embry does. Bella was staring at Embry with a bewildered expression on her face along with everyone else.

"Is that why you don't pick your phone up in the evenings anymore?" Seth asked.

"Hey, I take pride in my work."

"Embry, you're an electrician not a chef."

"Shut up and eat your steak! I'm a Grill Master, god damn it!"

Yep, Embry's gone off his rocker. I wonder if the Wa-Ya Brotherhood is as nuts as we are? I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

**So, what did you think of Crispy, Babs, and the coyotes? How do you think the wolfpack will react to them? Did you like possessive Paul and the broken dining table? I'd like to collapse a table with him. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter and I shall reply to your review. XOXO mama4dukes**

**A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of my readers who nominated and voted for Life Happens, So Just Roll With It in the Jasper's Darlins Everything's Bigger In Texas Awards. The story won in several categories, including: Best Southern Charm, Best Vamp Jasper, Best Jasper Quote, I Dream of Bella, Best AU Jasper Fic, Best Original Storyline, Best WTF Moment, and Best Overall Jasper Fic. I am truly stunned and overwhelmed by the win, and I am grateful to all of my fabulous readers. I dedicate the awards to all of you. Thank you again. XOXO mama4dukes  
><strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Our good friend 'the flu' was visiting our family over the last couple of weeks, hence the delay in getting this chapter posted. Thank you for your patience and for your reviews and messages. We'll begin this chapter with a very horny Paul.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only.**

**Paul's POV**

Fuck me, am I exhausted. I forgot how hard my pack brothers partied. I rolled over so I could hold my wife, but she wasn't there. I heard some rustling over by the walk-in closet so I slowly opened one eye, then the second. There, wrapped in a towel on her hands and knees, was my freshly showered imprint trying to...what the hell is she trying to do? I think she's trying to repair something on the floor.

I watched her curiously from bed when her towel flapped up placing her pretty pussy directly in my line of sight, beckoning me to come and have a taste. Well, damn, my morning wood just turned into steel. I silently got up out of bed, went to my wife, and buried my tongue into her folds. She gasped at the sudden invasion and tried to get up, but I had a hand placed firmly onto her back planting her in place. Her body soon relaxed into my tongue and she immersed herself in the feelings of pleasure that I was giving her. I was enjoying the taste of her sweet honey, lapping up every drop of heaven she was giving me. After a while, I flipped her over onto her back and entered her in one fell swoop, my cock breathing a sigh of relief to be back in it's familiar home.

"Taste yourself, Bella." I kissed her on the lips deeply, our tongues meeting together in a passionate dance. She devoured my lips and kissed me passionately, desperately as I made love to her sweet body right there on our bedroom floor until we both erupted into an erotic frenzy, and I marked her as mine for all the world to see.

We laid on the floor holding each other until my wife got back onto her hands and knees to get back to work.

"What in God's name are you trying to do, woman?" I asked.

"Oh, this stick thing came loose so I'm gluing it on," she said, pointing to the carpet joiner.

"With Elmer's Glue?"

"Uh-huh."

"Bells! That's a carpet joiner, you don't glue that on!"

"_Haha, she's just like Charlie. She doesn't know jack shit about home repairs. He has the gutters on his house held together with duct tape,"_ I heard Jared commenting from his room.

Damn, that amplified wolf hearing. I forgot about that. Wait a minute? Did he just say that Dad has his gutters held together with duct tape? Aw, man, I'm going to have to hire Brady to do home repairs for him. It rains almost everyday in Washington.

"Mind your own business, fucker!" I yelled. "Bella, please stop before we have to replace all of the carpeting. I'll fix it later, I swear."

"Oh, alright, but are you sure this glue won't work? It say's 'Elmer's Glue-All' on the label. Doesn't that mean it glues everything together?"

"_For chrissakes, Bella, put the fucking school glue down and step away from the carpet joiner!"_ Sam hollered to her from his room.

"Oh, fine," she said.

"_Bella, did you have a nice morning?" _ Leah yelled for everyone to hear.

My imprint turned as red as a lobster. She gulped and looked into my eyes with a mortified expression on her face. "Ahem, um, yes, thank you," she shouted in response.

"_I'm ready for my Caramel Macchiato now,"_ Jared said.

"_Me too,"_ Sam piped in. Suddenly, I was inundated with coffee orders from everyone.

"Hold your damn horses. Let me take a shower first."

Two hours later, we had driven to the Wa-Ya Reserve where I was meeting Crispy and his pack. I hadn't told them about the fact that they were coyotes yet. He and I decided that the best way to tell our guys was for us to all phase together.

When we arrived in the covered area where Crispy and I first phased, I told the pack to strip and phase. After we were all set to go, Bella instructed the women and Eric that we had to go on wolfback the rest of the way. The pack followed me without question and soon, we arrived at the secluded spot by the Gila River where Crispy and his pack were waiting with their mates, phased as giant coyotes.

"_What the fuck?"_ Seth blurted out in shock.

"_Stay calm guys, put your mates down and phase back to human form," _I instructed.

They did as I instructed and the coyotes returned to their human forms too. My guys and Leah threw their clothes on immediately.

"Hi guys," I greeted.

"How are ya, boss?" Manny asked.

"Good, good," I said, then introduced everyone to each other. Crispy's pack was at ease while my guys were completely on edge. Our imprints, though, well, that was another story. The women were staring Crispy's guys up and down their naked ass bodies.

"Holy, sweet Jesus, thank you," Emily thanked the heavens as she eyed each and every member of Crispy's pack.

"Crispy, man, why the heck is your pack naked? You're making our women flustered."

"Speak for yourself, Lahote! I'm kind of enjoying the view myself," Rachel snapped.

"Uh-huh, coming here was most definitely a good idea," a pregnant Kim gushed.

"That's it! Will you fucking explain to us why these guys were gigantic coyotes one moment and the next moment they were human?" Jared asked. "And stop eye-fucking them, Kim!"

"I can't help it, they're...they're naked and they're...big!" she tried to explain.

"I believe the word is hung," Missy corrected. "They also stay in shape. I mean look at them, they're ripped!"

"Pack requirement," Jeff explained. "Crispy makes us all hit the gym and workout." Hmm...maybe I should do that with my pack. Aside from me and Brady, everyone else looks...well...lumpy.

"Can't you guys cover yourselves up?" I asked.

"Ooh, yeah, maybe you can throw some fig leaves over your privates and dance around for us," Bella suggested.

_Fig leaves?_ I growled at my naughty wife.

"Yeah, like in the Olympics in Ancient Greece," Babs agreed. The women in Crispy's pack all took it in stride and giggled along.

"You know, I always tell Randy that if he loses his job as a physician, he could always become a male stripper," Mina said.

"Uh-huh, I'd pay to see him," Jessica added. "You wouldn't happen to be a gynecologist, would you?"

"I'm a family practitioner so I do routine gynecological exams as well," Randall winked.

"That's okay, man, she'll go to Bella," Embry stated quickly.

"Do you do house calls? I live in Washington," Seth's wife, Kyla asked coyly.

"Paul, you were the one that was supposed to teach us how to carry our clothes, remember?" Jeff reminded me.

"Oops, my bad."

"Whatever, you guys are way hotter than my pack. Paul! I can't believe you fucked Bella on your dining table and it crashed to the ground," Leah commented.

I put my face in my hands. I forgot about that "one pack, one mind" thing and was thinking about claiming Bella while we were phased a few moments ago.

"Yeah, that was some pretty intense sex you two had," Jared agreed.

"Hey, I thought you said that something heavy crashed on it and the dining table tanked," Crispy said.

"Pfft. Yeah, it was Paul crashing on top of Bella that tanked it. I saw the memory running through his mind while we were phased. Now can we get into the explanations because I'm gonna have to hit the breast pump in an hour."

Everyone turned to stare at Leah's engorged tits which were straining against her tank top.

"Crispy, man, you'd better hurry up with the explanations. She-wolf's titties look like they're gonna turn into a geyser soon," Manny commented. Leah's breasts were straining against her tank top looking like boulders. "Look at how engorged they are."

His wife Penny smacked him on the back of the head, calling him an insensitive prick.

Crispy delved into the history of his pack and explained everything to my guys including the story of the tribe of vampires in Oklahoma. To say that everyone was shocked was an understatement. Our pack was created to destroy vampires, but then again, Ephraim Black understood that there could be such a thing as peaceful vampires when he met the Cullens. All I knew was that we were made the way we were for a bigger purpose, not just to kill vampires. What it was, I had no idea.

After Crispy's explanation, we headed to his place for a cookout. Manny and Embry manned the grill while Sam and I assisted. We all got to know each other pretty well.

The guys in Crispy's pack and their mates were all pretty successful compared to my guys. Crispy, of course, was a lawyer for the Department of Education and Jeff was also a lawyer except he worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Justice Services. Now that was a handy connection considering my current predicament with the tribal council. Barry was a lieutenant at the Paradise Valley Police Department, while Randall was a doctor in Scottsdale. He kept begging Bella to come to work for him. And, of course, Manny worked for me in construction.

Among their mates, Babs was a nurse practitioner like Bella, Lisa worked in marketing, Cheyenne was a college professor at the University of Arizona, and Mina and Penny owned their own successful catering business which I planned on using for the next employee Christmas party.

Their personal achievements were proof of how successful the Wa-Ya Indian Nation was. It was a shame that my tribe couldn't be the same way. Somehow, my people needed to get out of the rut they were in and better themselves before we ceased to exist.

_**Two days later...**_

After a weekend of insane partying, my pack brothers, sister, and their mates returned to Washington. Embry and Quil stayed put in Arizona so they could attend the team meeting for the highway reconstruction project with me. As I suspected, they both contributed a lot of good ideas and I was able to get a good feel for how the two of them worked. Frankly, I was impressed right out of my socks. Right now, the three of us were holed up in my office going over plans.

"Alright, here's the deal. You two are no longer foremen on the electrical team," I said.

"Dude, did we suck that much?" Embry asked.

"Nope, I'm making you both the project managers on the electrical team. I'm also bumping up your salaries to eighty-five thousand dollars a year."

_Thump! _I peered over my desk while Quil looked down on the floor over by where Embry was sitting. The guy actually fainted.

"You think that was too much?" I asked Quil.

"Yeah, maybe for him. I think he's in shock. Maybe we should feed him."

"I'm getting hungry myself. I'll have Lorna order lunch in from Morton's for us. Just don't tell Bella. She's been hounding me about my cholesterol again."

"What the hell is it with women? Rachel's the same way. Do you realize that she's been packing a fucking chicken salad for me for lunch everyday for the last month now?"

"That sucks the big one. Alright, let's get our boy up."

We got Embry up and gave him a bottle of water. "Eighty-five thousand dollars? Are you for real?" he asked.

"Yeah, here's the thing, you two have to hire your own crew including qualified foremen. Another thing, how soon can you two close up shop in Forks and move here?"

"Rachel and Jess were planning on moving here as soon as the school year ends in mid-June. They wanted to hit the pavement in Arizona so they could have jobs in place when the school year starts in September. Embry and I have one more big project rewiring the tribal school on the Makah reservation, then we can close up shop. We'll be done by the end of May."

"How about a July 1st start date for you both? If you can get here sooner, I'll start you sooner. I need you both here as soon as possible."

"That's fine by me," Quil said.

"Same here," Embry agreed.

"Do you guys think that you might be able to fly out here next month for another team meeting and to meet with the human resources department to get everything in place?"

"Absolutely, and if you give us a copy of the plans we'll work on them some more at home."

"Excellent. Oh, and now that you're project managers, you're gonna have to pick up a few suits and ties. Also, you'll each have an expense account and you'll be traveling a lot. I'm not gonna lie to you, it's not a nine to five, Monday thru Friday job."

I just wanted to be upfront with them about the amount of responsibility that they were taking on, now that they were project managers.

"Paul, Quil and I own a business. Do you seriously think that we work nine to five, Monday thru Friday?"

"No, I guess not," I chuckled.

"Mr. Lahote, your lunch has arrived," Lorna's voice came ringing in through the intercom.

"Have them bring it in. Did you order something for yourself?"

"Yes, and thank you. You're always so generous."

"Not a problem," I replied.

Lunch was set up for us. I scanned the meal on the table and called Lorna on the intercom.

"Lorna, I didn't order any salads."

"_Yes, I know sir. Mrs. Lahote told me that I needed to order a salad along with your entree whenever you ordered lunch in because she's worried about your cholesterol level and fiber intake. Frankly, I agree with her."_

"Um, okay. Thanks, Lorna."

"_You're welcome, sir."_

"Guess we have to have salads guys," I told Quil and Embry who were both smirking at me.

"Man and I thought Rachel was bad," Quil said. "I feel bad for you." The three of us dug into our salads first before digging into our steaks.

After lunch, we went back to work until it was time for me to drop Quil and Embry off at the airport. I headed home excited to finally be alone with my beautiful wife after a long weekend and a house full of guests.

_**One month later...**_

**Crispy's POV**

It was around nine pm on a Monday night, Babs and I were relaxing in front of the TV after a long day at work when, suddenly, a car screeched to a halt in our driveway. Moments later, there was frantic pounding on our door. I answered it to find a distraught Bella who immediately bolted into my arms.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Two officers from La Push came and arrested Paul. They had a court order and an arrest warrant charging him with assault and battery. Here, this is it. Apparently, they're extraditing him to La Push."

"Calm down, sweetie. Let me take a look at this."

I looked over the arrest warrant and the charges were flimsy at best. Furthermore, they were illegal because Fuller and Ateara were presiding over the case in which one was a plaintiff and the other a witness. I'd have Paul out of there in no time.

"Bella, did Barry take a report from you when he came to your house to escort the three men from your house?"

"Yes."

"I'm going to take a ride to the Paradise Valley Police Department and see if I can obtain the official report. You stay here with Babs. In fact, I'd feel safer if you stayed here overnight with us while Paul is gone."

She nodded in agreement and settled herself on the sofa next to Babs. I called Barry who was still on duty. He said that he'd meet me at the station in fifteen minutes and get me a copy of the report.

_**Two days later...**_

I found out from Rachel Ateara that Paul was due to face charges in front of the tribal elders at noon today. She also informed me that the man he was charged with assaulting, Tony Fuller, was also one of the tribal elders overseeing the case. Two of the men on the council forced entry into Bella and Paul's home and, Tony Fuller, was the one who laid his hands on her. She also said that Seth and Leah Clearwater's mother, her father, and Joshua Uley, Sam's father, were also part of the council. They were on Paul's side in this mess.

I arrived at the Quileute Nation tribal headquarters in time for the tribal hearing. I had my buddy and fellow pack member Jeff Redbird—who was a lawyer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as Barry and Bella with me. We had a double pronged assault planned. I just hoped it would work.

"Excuse me this is a closed hearing," a man informed us as I entered the tribal courtroom with Bella and Barry.

"My name is Crispin Hodges, I'm the attorney representing Mr. Lahote."

"Oh, well, you can stay."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," the woman who I assumed was Bella's stepmother called. Jeff entered the room. "May I help you?"

"My name is Jeff Redbird from the Office of Justice Services with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I'm here to observe the proceedings to make sure that they're conducted fairly." He flashed his badge and ID at them.

"Oh, of course Mr. Redbird. I'm Tony Fuller, one of the tribal elders, this is Quil Ateara the Third, Susan Clearwater-Swan, William Black, and Joshua Uley. We make up the Quileute Tribal Council. This young man here is Jacob Black, he is one of the witnesses."

Fucking brown nosing piece of shit. I'm sure Jeff could see right through the fucker.

The fucker continued speaking, "Unfortunately, those two people will have to go since this is a closed hearing, after all."

"Ah, but this is where you're wrong. Mrs. Lahote and Officer Blackfoot were both witnesses to the alleged assault. Now if they have to leave, then so should Mr. Black and Mr. Ateara," I argued.

"Yes, well, I suppose they can stay," Fuller conceded.

After the charges were read, the witnesses were called to the stand. I argued that Paul was defending his home and his wife and, therefore, was justified in his actions. I also pointed out that they were the ones that forced entry into the Lahote's home and assaulted Bella.

Two hours later, Tony Fuller stood up to ask each tribal elder their verdict. That's when Jeff stepped in and addressed the tribal council, "Before you go to the trouble of passing judgement on Mr. Lahote, let me intervene. I'm using my power with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to invalidate this proceeding and the charges brought against Mr. Lahote. First of all, Mr. Fuller is the one bringing forth the assault and battery charge to Mr. Lahote, yet he is sitting on the tribal council presiding over the case. On top of that Mr. Ateara, you, yourself, bore witness to the alleged assault, yet here you sit overseeing the case as well. This, of course is illegal in any court of law. A plaintiff may not preside over his own case, nor can any witnesses. Furthermore, you blatantly attempted to exclude two witnesses for the defense to further your position. After witnessing the miscarriage of justice that occurred in this courtroom today, I hereby suspend the tribal council of all powers until further notice. Furthermore, any tribal matters will be handled by the Office of Justice Services while an investigation into your tribal affairs is conducted. A formal letter will be sent out to all members of your nation from my office pertaining to this matter."

"B...b...but sir. We have pictures clearly showing that Mr. Lahote assaulted me," Tony Fuller blathered.

"Maybe so, but bear in mind that you forcefully entered his home and assaulted his wife while she was alone. Any man is within his rights to defend his home and family. I certainly would. If I were you, Mr. Fuller, I would forget about these charges and worry more about our investigation. Mr. and Mrs. Lahote, you're free to go now," Jeff stated.

The three of us and Barry left the courtroom while Jeff stayed behind. He was going to meet us at the airport later while he gathered evidence of corruption within the tribe and sealed off all court documents. He had a team from his regional office in Phoenix en route to assist him. The Pacific Northwest was generally handled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' regional office in Portland, Oregon. When Jeff called them regarding the case, through sheer luck, they had asked him and his office to handle the case. Their office was currently overloaded with a huge territorial case which usurped much of their manpower. Jeff was happy to handle it. He genuinely liked Paul and, being a shapeshifter himself, he understood that there were deeper issues in the case than the standard, run of the mill tribal corruption case.

_**Two months later...**_

**Bella's POV**

Paul was safe and back at work for now. Crispy and Jeff had effectively dismissed the assault and battery charges against my husband and all was quiet for now. Jeff had also temporarily shut down the tribal council in La Push while he looked for evidence of corruption. Paul took the opportunity to move everyone over to Arizona last month while the tribal council was lying low.

Embry and Jessica had no problems moving since they lived in Forks. Jessica was able to sell her house right away. Seth purchased it from her so she didn't even have to put it on the market. He, too, took the opportunity to move off the reservation so he could get his kids out of the tribal school. Jess and Embry purchased a house in Scottsdale which was about ten miles away from us.

Sam and Emily didn't have any problems moving either. Sam had married Emily on the Makah reservation so he was technically a member of their tribe. The council had no say over them whatsoever, especially now that they couldn't hold the wolf issue over them. Apparently, the reservation had three officers from Jeff's office that had taken up temporary residence there so Fuller was treading lightly. They were able to move into an apartment in Camelback East while they built up some savings to purchase a house.

Brady and Missy's move was extremely interesting. Missy's father, Thomas Uley, called Paul begging for a job. Apparently, he worked in construction as well and the last job he had was a year ago in Los Angeles. Paul called Sam, Jared, and my dad for a character reference. They each confirmed that he was a really good guy and, in fact, was the guy who got Sam and Jared initially started in the construction business. He was forty-six years old and had roughly twenty plus years of construction experience under his belt. Paul had Tom email his resume over and all of his references checked out with stellar recommendations. He even had an associate's degree in construction management. Paul flew him in for an interview, liked him, and hired him as a foreman. Thomas Uley moved his entire family over to Arizona and between him, Brady, and Missy they were able to purchase a two-family home in the Alhambra district. Missy, like Emily, was a medical assistant at the clinic in La Push—only she had only been getting paid minimum wage. I was livid! I put her in contact with Children's Hospital and she was working there three days after she arrived in Phoenix.

Missy's parents moving to Arizona worked out well for everyone. Missy's mother, Trina offered to babysit both Emily and Kim's little ones, as well as Missy's, while everyone worked. She truly had a good heart and wanted everyone to have a chance to get on their feet.

Quil and Rachel moved with Billy Black's blessing. He was proud of the two of them and he didn't want to see his grandkids being held back. The two of them had a seamless move. They had already purchased a home in Scottsdale on a previous visit so all they had to do was move in. They even had a handicap accessible in-law apartment for Billy so he could visit.

The only family that had issues with moving was Jared and Kim. Jacob and Collin had cornered them and started lecturing them on maintaining tradition, tribal protection, and a host of other issues. Jacob even offered Jared a job at his auto repair shop in order to try to get him to stay at a whopping nine bucks an hour. What a freaking cheapskate. Jacob charges eighty-five bucks an hour for labor at his shop so he could certainly afford to pay more. Jared, of course, refused, at which time Jacob tried to alpha order him to stay. Naturally, that had absolutely no effect on him. After that, Angela stepped in and tried to give Kim an alpha's imprint's order which only seems to exist in Angela's mind because there is no such thing. When Kim refused to comply, Angela went ape shit. Jared asked Jacob to leave because they were stressing out a pregnant Kim. Jacob refused and then it spiraled into a huge fistfight between Jared and Jake and Collin. The Forks Police were called because the Tribal Police was temporarily shut down. Jake and Collin were arrested for assault and thrown in jail for the weekend. By the time, the two of them were bailed out, the family were well on their way to Arizona.

Kim passed her GED exam with flying colors. She was looking forward to looking for a job after the baby was born. Meanwhile, Jared was still puttering away with his studying under the watchful eyes of Rachel and Jessica. They were confident that he would earn his GED by the end of August. He was temporarily working the overnight shift at a 7-11 until he earned his GED, at which time he would go to work for Paul.

Paul and I had an insane two weeks. My two little ten year old half-brothers stayed with us so my mother and Phil could go on vacation. We had them enrolled in a summer day camp that ran from nine to four. At that point, one of us would scramble to leave work early so we could pick them up and take over their care for the rest of the day. They were always hungry, too. I mean always. I thought my husband was always hungry, but they took the cake. Take yesterday, for example, I packed two sandwiches each, grapes, pretzels, and water for them for lunch. When Paul picked them up, they were screaming that they were starving so he bought them each a Happy Meal. By the time I got home at five pm which was only ten minutes after they arrived home, the two boys had their heads in the fridge looking for food. I got started on dinner right away, which they ate, then an hour later they were claiming starvation again. This time, Paul heated up some Spaghetti-O's which I always thought was unhealthy, but now I had the utmost respect for it.

By nine pm, we would start rustling the two boys off to bed, but generally it would take them until eleven to fall asleep. By then, Paul and I were running on fumes, but then it was time for laundry. Laundry! How can two little boys produce so much laundry? Both Paul and I agreed that our respect for his pack brothers and their imprints increased a hundred fold. How the heck they managed so many kids was beyond us; and they couldn't return the kids at the end of two weeks either. Right now, Paul and I were in Florida dropping the two rugrats off. I had given both boys their physical exams for the school year and purchased new wardrobes for each so my mom and Phil didn't have to worry about it. It's not that they didn't have the money, it's just that they were my kid brothers and I wanted to do it.

Phil started a new job coaching a college baseball team this past spring. It actually paid more and it gave him the summers off so he could spend time with the boys. Phil and Paul were off in Tampa Bay with the two boys taking in a baseball game today. It was just my mom and me.

"So, Bella, when are you and Paul going to give me a grandbaby?"

"Mom, I'm still young. Besides, we just got married on New Year's Eve."

"Bella, by the time you and Paul have kids, I'm going to be dead."

"Mom, you had Tyler and Tucker when you were thirty-nine."

"Yes, but Phil's still young. You and Paul are going to have your kids, I'll be dead, Phil will be dead by then, and so will Charlie and Sue. Then, if you both die, your kids would be orphans and have to be taken in by the state and then what?"

"Mom, you're being ridiculous!"

"I am not! What happens if you both have a heart attack because you're so old and Phil and I have to take your kids in?"

Hmm...this is deja vu. I recall having a similar conversation with Charlie and Sue around Thanksgiving last year.

"Mom, you just said that you'd be dead by the time Paul and I had kids."

"Yes, and if I'm not, I'll be old and in a wheelchair."

I slapped my palm to my forehead and rolled my eyes at my mother. I changed the subject, then because there was something else that I wanted to speak to my mom about.

"Hey, Mom, you know how I gave the boys their physicals?"

"Yes, thank you. We have insurance, you know. You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to, Mom. It'll save you some time and you always wait until the last minute and end up becoming frazzled. Anyway, that's not what I want to talk to you about. Paul and I were both observing Tucker and he really becomes short of breath quickly compared to Tyler. I had Dr. Blanchard double check my suspicions, but he has exercise induced asthma and some severe seasonal allergies."

"Oh my God! Oh my God! How did this happen? What can I do? Maybe I should have some reiki done on him, or acupuncture."

"Mom, this is exercise induced asthma. Reiki is not going to help him, neither is acupuncture. You can help him learn to live with it. It's easily treatable."

"How?"

"Mom, this orange inhaler is a corticosteroid. Give him two puffs in the morning when he wakes up and two puffs before he goes to sleep at night. Now, this blue inhaler is only for when he's having an asthma attack. Now, I've given you enough to get you through the summer, but you need to contact his regular physician and have him prescribe more. The school nurse's office is going to need one of the blue inhalers in her office at all times in case of an emergency."

"Oh my God! How am I supposed to remember all of that? Can you call his doctor, Bella?"

This was my mother's problem. She was just downright irresponsible and she became frazzled when she was stressed. She also had a habit of thinking that reiki and other alternate therapies would solve the problem. When I was growing up, whenever I got sick, she would take me in for reiki. I, eventually, figured out that it didn't work in curing the flu and I would end up having to treat myself. Of course, this is what got me into the field of nursing, too. I did my job telling her, and Paul was going through the whole spiel with Phil. He would make sure that Tucker got his medicine. As it was, Paul had an inhaler in his pocket with him in case Tucker got an asthma attack during the day today.

I think the amount of responsibility involved with raising kids hit Paul and I like a ton of bricks these past two weeks, especially when we both nearly had a heart attack when we saw how out of breath Tucker was becoming compared to his brother and Jared's kids when they were running around the playground together. It dawned on me then that my mother should have noticed this years ago, but she was always off in her own world so it was up to me and Paul to take care of it as best as we could.

"Mom, it's already seven pm, shouldn't you get started on dinner. The guys will be home soon."

"Oh, is it? Oh, I got so involved in this book that I lost track of time. Hmm...what should we have?"

"You know something? Why don't I just whip up some spaghetti and salad. Nice and easy for tonight."

"Thanks, sweetie, you always take such good care of me."

It was the story of my life. I loved my mom, I really did, but she was so absent-minded that it drove me nuts. She did get my shit together and between her, Phil, and my dad, they made sure that I didn't fall into abject depression and made something of myself after Edward and Jacob both dumped me like a ton of bricks. See, no matter how ditzy my mother is, she cared deeply for her kids and would do anything to make sure that emotionally they were happy, at least.

A half an hour later, the guys walked in looking like they raided the gift shop at the stadium, which I'm sure Paul did. Phil walked up to me and kissed the top of my head.

"Thanks for caring so much about the boys, sweet pea. Paul told me about Tucker's asthma. I'll make sure that he gets his medication, I promise."

I had no doubt that he would. "Just make sure that you carry an inhaler for him and that mom does too. The blue one, not the orange one. It might help if you just tucked it into her handbag. I'll put a call into his doctor on Monday morning and fax a copy of his physical over so he's made aware. You know how mom is."

"That's why I'm glad we have you. By the way, we ran into Gary at the game. I thought Paul was going to tackle him to the ground when he came up to us and asked how you were doing," he chuckled.

I looked over at Paul and he had a scowl on his face with his arms crossed over his chest. I giggled, he could be so jealous sometimes. I walked over to him and gave him a hug.

"Just how many baseball players did you date, Bella?"

"Too many, but it turned out I needed a wolf to make me happy," I whispered.

I kissed him deeply on the lips. We were interrupted by Tyler making kissing noises in front of us. Paul went chasing after him in the front yard and the two of them started wrestling. He'd make a great dad one day, just not yet. For now, two weeks of parenting was definitely enough for us.

"Bella, don't forget, you promised to take me to the bookstore later and buy me the Harry Potter series," Tucker said. He was a total bookworm, just like me.

"I didn't forget. Don't worry," I reassured and plopped next to him on the sofa so we could watch TV together.

I noticed my mom watching us both from the kitchen with a warm smile on her face. Yeah, she was ditzy, forgetful, and definitely not the most responsible woman, but she was still our mom and she loved us to pieces. That much was for sure.

_**One month later...**_

_Ding! Ding! Ding!_

_Knock! Knock! Knock!_

_Ding! Ding! Ding!_

Paul and I both jolted awake. It was three am on a Saturday morning and we had both been sound asleep after a long week at work.

_Ding! Ding! Ding! _The doorbell chimed continuously. We both got out of bed and ran down the stairs. Paul threw me behind him and opened it. There, lying on our front step in a puddle of water, was Kim in position to push her baby out.

Her contractions were coming one on top of the other.

"Oh my Lord! Paul! Bring her inside and put her on the dining table. Kim, where are the kids?"

"In...the...aaaagggghhhh...vannnn!" she screamed.

Paul grab my...oh, thanks." My proactive husband had run upstairs and retrieved my medical bag. He went out to the van to get Jared and Kim's five kids.

"Bella, the baby's crowning," Kim panted. I had no doubt that she was right, this was her sixth child, she'd know her body well by now.

"Paul! I need a ton of towels and grab a clean sheet for me. Kim, I need you to put your feet up on the table so I can examine...um...right, just like that."

Oh my God! The baby's head was beyond crowning, it was halfway out.

"Kim, I need you to..." Unlike Leah, Kim just grabbed behind her thighs and started pushing. She was so experienced that she didn't even need me to count for her.

"Stop pushing for a second, Kim," I instructed. By now, Paul had rustled the kids upstairs and was by my side assisting.

"Can I push again?" Kim moaned.

"Yep, one more big push for the shoulders, one...two...three..."

"Aaaagggghhhh!" Kim gave birth to her sixth child, a boy, with a great roar. After checking the baby out, I passed him to her and she immediately started nursing him while I delivered the placenta and finished up.

After a few minutes, I questioned Kim, "What happened?"

"Oh, I was at home when the contractions started coming. I thought that I would be able to wait it out until Jared got home from work, but soon they were five minutes apart so I loaded the kids up in the van and was going to head for the hospital. By the time I got little Rina into her car seat, the contractions were two minutes apart so I had Ryan take the wheel and drive me here."

I can't believe she had her fourteen year old drive her here. "Have you called Jared yet?"

"No, and don't bother. He's at work and we can really use the money. Besides, he's the only one in the store until his shift is over at six am. Oh! Paul, I forgot to tell you. He's taking the test for his GED on Monday. Rebecca and Jessica are sure he'll pass."

"Finally, I'm looking forward to having him on the team," Paul said with relief. He had started everyone else as soon as they moved here rather than in September, but apparently Jared's skill set was something that Paul really needed quickly.

"Paul, hon, I need to send you out to the twenty-four hour Walmart for some supplies for Kim and the baby. If I give you a list, would you go for me?"

"Of course I will," he said. I quickly jotted down a list of supplies and sent Paul off.

"Okay, Kim, since you had an attended home birth, I'm going to give you a choice. You can either go to a hospital, stay here overnight, or go home."

"I think I'd rather stay here, if it's okay with you. You're my nurse practitioner anyway and, besides, we don't have health insurance until Jared starts working for Paul."

I felt bad for the two of them, but I understood why Paul couldn't relax his standards regarding the GED for Jared. If he did it for him, he'd have to do it for everyone else. As it stood, I was providing health care for her family for free until their insurance was all set.

"Okay, then, let's get you upstairs and into bed."

"Can I take a shower?"

"If you feel up to it," I said as I helped her up. One thing was for sure, this was one strong lady. After I helped her off the table, she practically sprinted up the stairs by herself. Most women would still be lying in bed exhausted this soon after giving birth.

I walked her to the shower, took the baby, then checked on her kids for her. They were all fast asleep except for a worried Ryan.

"Is my mom okay?" he asked.

"She's wonderful, you did so well driving her here," I said. "Do you want to meet your new brother?"

The kid was an old pro. He took the baby from me and cradled him in his arms. "Hi, little guy. Mom said that I can name you as long as the name began with an R. Should I call you Rad? Nah, it rhymes with bad and I don't want you to turn out bad plus all the kids at school will pick on you. I could be mean and call you Ralph, but then you'd turn out to be kind of nerdy and I want you to be a cool dude like me. How about if I call you Riley? Would you like that? You kind of look like a Riley to me. Yeah, you like that, don't you? Well, then, Riley it is."

"I like Riley," I said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. Now, why don't you give Riley to me and get in bed. It's late."

"Okay," he said, handing me his brother. "Hey, Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for looking after my mom."

"Anytime, kiddo."

"Bella?"

"Yes, Ryan?"

"Do you wanna cuddle?"

"Goodnight, Ryan." I rolled my eyes, then chuckled after closing the door.

Around 6:15 am, a worried Jared came bolting into our house stark naked. He threw his shorts on as soon as he got inside. Apparently, Paul had called him from Walmart to tell him that he had a new son. He finished his shift, phased, and ran straight to our house. Kim and the kids were fast asleep, as was my husband. He got home from Walmart completely exhausted and told me that he was hitting the sack after he made sure that I was keeping up with my birth control pills. I was awake sitting with Riley. As soon as he saw his son, Jared broke out into a huge grin, then engulfed me in a hug. He took his son from me and beamed with pride.

"Thanks, Bella. I truly appreciate what you did for us. I wish there was something that I could do to repay you."

"Your friendship is enough," I said. "Paul is so happy to have you around again."

"Yeah, well, I'm happy that he's back in my life, too. You, as well, Bella. You have no idea how much my kids look up to you and you make Kim happy, too. Then, there's Ryan."

"Ah, Ryan, my not so secret admirer," I chuckled. "You know that he drove Kim and the kids over here in the van, don't you?"

"He did what?" Jared asked, appalled. "Just how close to giving birth was she when she got here?"

"Oh, she was already crowning."

"Man alive! How come she waited so long?"

So I explained to him what happened and he was completely shocked. "Okay, daddy, take Riley up to Kim, he needs to nurse. Paul grabbed a whole mess of baby supplies for you guys, they're in the bedroom with Kim. There's a bassinet there so you can put him to bed. You'll have to put it together, though. Paul tuckered out as soon as he picked up the supplies. I need to hit the sack. You've got this, right?"

"Easy," he chuckled, then kissed the top of my head and sent me off to bed.

By the time I woke up, it was already noon. Paul was already awake. I went downstairs and our entire house was a madhouse. All of Paul's pack brothers and their families, plus Crispy's pack and their families, were sitting in the living room. The women were cooking up a storm, Embry and Manny had both grills on full throttle, and there were kids splashing around in our swimming pool.

Babs ran up to me and gave me a hug. "I heard you had a long night?"

"Tell me about it. When I found her on our front doorstep, she was already pushing."

"You did a great job, Bella." Dr. Randall Kayani approached me to shake my hand. "I just checked on both the mother and the baby, they're doing fine. I circumcised him, too—that was Jared's request."

"Thanks, Randy."

"Now when are you and Babs gonna come and work for me. I could use a family nurse practitioner with a midwifery license and a pediatric nurse practitioner in my practice."

"Sorry, buddy, I'm happy working with Tom. He's expanding in September, you know."

"Well, gee, Bella, I could expand if you'd come and work for me. I talked to Rich Greenbriar the other day, he had nothing but good things to say about you."

"He's biased, I grew up with his daughter."

"Don't kid yourself, Bella, last night's performance was phenomenal. You should consider going to medical school."

"Hey, Randy, quit trying to hog my wife," Paul approached jokingly.

"Talk to her, Paul, tell her to come and work for me. I'll have Mina make you more of her Coconut Cream Pie."

"Done. You can have both her and Babs. You don't mind, do you, Crispy?"

"For Mina's Coconut Cream Pie? You don't even have to pay them. Take them, they're yours."

"Yeah, you don't even have to give them back, you can keep them," Paul said in jest. "Just keep the pies coming."

We all had a good laugh and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon with our friends. It's amazing how everyone had settled in and become friends. The commonality of the men being shapeshifters definitely bonded our families all closer together, but that wasn't all it was—these were all genuinely good, kind people that overlooked things like educational and class differences. To us, we were all people—equal in every way.

**What did you think of the pack's reaction to the coyotes? Would you have reacted like their imprints did? Embry and Quil will make great additions to Paul's team, won't they? How do you like the way the two lawyer coyotes handled the tribal elders? Let me know your thoughts on this chapter. I promise to respond to your reviews. XOXO mama4dukes**

**On another note, I've posted a Paul/Bella oneshot called Stepping Aside For Love. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that one.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you for your wonderful reviews, messages, faves, and alerts. I truly do appreciate it. Behold, the 'mighty' alpha from Washington and his imprint will pay a visit to our friends in Arizona during this chapter. I can't wait to hear what you think about their visit.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Paul's POV**

Bella and I had been invited to a gathering at the Governor's Mansion in Austin, Texas. We had just sat through the most drawn out speech in oratory history and were now making our rounds greeting people we knew. This was, of course, all in the name of high stakes business.

"Paul, why don't you come and join us for a cigar on the lawn? Bella, my wife would love to see you again. She's in the sitting room with the other ladies," the head of the transportation board in Arizona stated.

"I'll just go and find her," she responded graciously.

I joined him outside. This wasn't a friendly session of cigar smoking on the lawn. This was a full blown meeting of the minds with the heads of the transportation boards of Arizona, New Mexico,Texas, and Oklahoma plus the respective governors and a few state senators. We wouldn't be talking about the highway system, of course. This was a race to get into the good graces of the ones who gave final approval to the funding of the projects. If everything went well, my company would be restoring the highway system for New Mexico and Texas, on top of Arizona, which I was already doing. In order for this to work, I'd need to hire a few more thousand temporary employees for a few years. This would bode well for the economy of the State of Arizona so I had the senators and governors of my home state pushing for this deal to go through for my company.

I spotted my competition approaching with the transportation board chairman for Oklahoma. Ted Baklund was doing a similar restoration in Oklahoma as I was doing in Arizona. He had a few strikes against him already, he was already roughly eight billion over budget and he had a tunnel collapse due to faulty engineering on a different highway system. He was also the scum of the earth—he had several mistresses, two illegitimate children that he refused to claim, and he fancied himself as some sort of playboy jet-setter.

"How are you, Paul?" Baklund extended his hand out for me to shake.

"Good, good," I said, doing the same.

"Is your wife still working?" he smirked as if it were a bad thing.

"Of course she is, she loves her job. Why would she quit?"

"What does your wife do?" the governor of Texas asked.

"She's a nurse practitioner and board certified nurse midwife," I stated.

"No kidding? My daughter is a nurse practitioner. I'll tell you, they work just as hard as doctors, if not harder yet they don't garner the respect they deserve," he said, looking pointedly at Baklund.

"Oh, no, I wasn't saying that her profession was not respectable. I was just wondering why the wife of someone of Paul's stature would need to work."

"Why shouldn't she? It's not like she runs Paul's company. She has to keep busy somehow," the governor of Arizona piped in.

"My wife keeps busy with her charity," Baklund stated.

"And animal welfare is a worthy cause, I agree, but Isabella contributes to society in her own way," one of my senator friends from Arizona piped in. His wife was an RN at the same hospital as Babs and you could tell that he wasn't impressed by Baklund's little attempt to degrade Bella because she chose to have a career.

Baklund realized that he shouldn't have brought up the subject of Isabella working. It wasn't a shameful thing that she worked, rather it was quite respectable for a woman to be working. He just couldn't get his archaic society mores out of his high falutin' ass. It didn't matter, he was digging himself into a deeper grave which was better for me.

"Speaking of charities," Baklund said, changing the subject, and facing the governor of Oklahoma. I heard your wife is raising funds for her cause."

"Ah, yes, the Native American College Fund. A very worthy cause. Can I count on you guys?"

Everyone started contributing to the cause. Donations ranged from a hundred thousand to a million from Baklund's company. I actually planned on supporting this one in a huge way. It was extremely close to my heart since there were so many tribal kids who couldn't go to college due to lack of funds. I was one of those kids. Had I not had the ability to phase into a wolf, I would never have been able to make it through my first year of college.

"Throw in a million from Lahote Engineering Design and Construction, as well as a million from Paul and Isabella Lahote's personal funds." Baklund's jaw dropped at hearing the amount. Too late now, fucker. I win this one. Let me just make you squirm a bit more, shithead. "Lahote Engineering Design and Construction will also do a dollar for dollar corporate match up to two million dollars."

"Paul, that's very generous of you," the Oklahoma governor said.

"Your wife's charity is actually very dear to my heart. I understand what it's like to not have the funds to attend college. I, myself, struggled to pay for college and had to work while I was attending school."

"My wife was the same way. She grew up impoverished on a Cherokee reservation and had to work to put herself through college so you can see why this charity means a great deal to her."

One of the senators from New Mexico joined in the conversation, "I had no idea that your wife is Native American. I grew up on a pueblo in New Mexico. One of my goals is to eradicate poverty and illiteracy on pueblos, rancherias, and reservations, not only in New Mexico, but throughout the United States.

We got to talking about some of the issues plaguing pueblos and reservations. Unfortunately, poverty and the resulting complications that followed, like substance abuse, teen pregnancy, and illiteracy were widespread. Sure, there were some successful tribes such as Crispy's Wa-Ya Nation or the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut, but the majority of tribes faced a multitude of socioeconomic challenges that should have been addressed decades ago.

Eventually, the party broke up with me garnering a tee-time with the senator from New Mexico and the governors of New Mexico and Texas tomorrow morning at eight am followed by a private dinner with the wives, later in the evening. What a long ass weekend it was gonna be; and we still had to fly back to Phoenix on the first flight Monday morning so we could get back in time for work.

I looked beside me and my imprint was sound asleep, passed out cold from tonight's events. My wife was a trooper for sure. She hated dressing up in evening gowns and dealing with these rich folks, but she did because it was necessary for my company. Tonight, though, she enjoyed talking to the Oklahoma governor's wife. In fact, the two of them were having lunch together tomorrow while I golfed. I snuggled up next to her thinking that we need a vacation, and it wasn't long before I, too, fell into a peaceful slumber.

_**One month later...  
><strong>_

**Jake's POV**

What the hell is going on? Four months ago, everything was going swimmingly. We had extradited Paul back to La Push for his crimes. Unfortunately, some big wig from the Bureau of Indian Affairs happened to show up on the exact same day to witness the court proceedings and declared it illegal and unjust. I, mean, for God's sake, we had the pictures to prove that Paul left marks on Tony's neck. When Paul's attorney questioned me, though, I did have to admit that Tony had his hands on Bella when Paul walked in, and that it could have been perceived as a threat. Honestly speaking, if someone had put their hands on Angela, I would have been on them like white on rice. The fact was, though, that Bella was disrespectful to tribal elders and that was just unacceptable. I decided that Angela and Linda should be the ones to exact punishment upon her. They had the right to do so as the Alpha's and Beta's imprints.

Paul and Bella weren't the only ones in trouble, though. The majority of my pack have moved off of the reservation. In fact, Leah and Seth were the only two left and they didn't even live on the reservation anymore. Leah has lived in Charlie Swan's old house for years now, but Seth just purchased Jessica's house because she and Embry decided to move so she could find a better job. To make matters worse, Quil and my traitor sister, Rachel, have moved too. Both to Arizona.

Sam and Emily moved their family over to the Makah Reservation, or so we thought. Come to find out, they had also moved to Arizona.

Then there were Jared and Kim. They had the nerve to have me and Collin arrested and thrown into the Forks jail over the weekend. Charlie Swan wrote up a restraining order and, at this point, we aren't able to contact them or approach them in any way, shape, or form. By the time we were bailed out, they had moved to Arizona and so had Brady and Missy. In fact, Missy's parents, Tom and Trina moved there as well, taking their entire family with them. Of course, Tom and Trina weren't wolves so we had no say in that matter.

I just want to know why everyone decided to turn their backs on their heritage and move all of a sudden. It doesn't make sense. La Push is a great place to raise kids. I plan on alpha ordering everyone back as soon as this mess with the Bureau of Indian Affairs was done with. I just don't understand why their investigation is taking so long. We have nothing to hide.

**Bella's POV**

I was driving Paul into work today, his truck was being serviced. It needed new brakes and tires. Nothing major, just routine maintenance. We had a bit of time so we decided to stop for coffee at Dunkin' Donuts.

We had just gotten our coffee through the drive-thru when I saw two familiar boys walking along the side of the road—it was Sammy and Ryan.

"Paul, today's not a holiday, is it?"

"Not that I know of, why?"

"Um, because it's 8:30 am and we just passed Sammy and Ryan walking on the street carrying iced coffees. Doesn't school start at 7:45 am? At least, that's the time it started when I went to school there."

"I'm not sure. I'll call the high school and confirm the start time."

Paul quickly called Arcadia High School where the boys attended and confirmed that I was correct.

"Turn the car around, Bella, and pull up next to them."

I did as he asked, Paul unrolled the window and called out, "You boys need a lift?"

The two eggheads didn't even turn to see who was talking to them. Sammy simply replied, "Sorry, we can't accept rides from strangers."

At least they were paying attention to their personal safety lessons. I pulled to a stop next to them and Paul got out and got right into their faces. "You two better have a fucking stellar explanation as to why you're not in school!"

Both boys had a look of horror mingled with fear on their faces. They both started spouting out excuses. The best one being from Ryan, "The principal sent us out for iced coffee because he didn't have time to go get one himself."

"Bullshit! Get in the fucking car! Both of you! Now!" Paul roared.

I'd never seen two boys move quicker. I started driving to the high school while Paul lectured them. "Do you two realize the sacrifice that your parents made in moving here? They wanted you both to get good educations so you can go to college and make something of yourselves. Your parents work hard, and in the case of your fathers, they sometimes put in twelve hours in one day just so you two can have better lives and this is how you repay them? Now what do you two have to say for yourselves? Answer me!"

Both boys looked down at their feet. I pulled into the high school and parked the car. Paul wasn't close to done yet. He marched both petrified kids straight into the principal's office. Of course, he recognized me. "Bella Swan?"

"Bella Lahote now. How are you, Mr. Trainor?"

"Good, what brings you here today?"

"Um, these are my nephews, Sammy and Ryan. My husband and I just caught them walking by Dunkin' Donuts. Ryan here claims that you asked him to pick up an iced coffee for him since you didn't have time to go get one yourself."

"Interesting. Have a seat boys. Is this your husband, Bella?"

"Oh, how rude of me. Yes. Mr. Trainor, I'd like to introduce you to my husband, Paul Lahote."

Mr. Trainor did a double take, Paul was well known around Phoenix. He stood up to shake his hand and stared at him with a look of awe, then got down to business.

"Well, boys, where's my iced coffee?" Mr. Trainor asked them.

"Um, we got thirsty and drank it," Sammy replied.

"Uh-huh, sure. Now, are you two going to sit here and lie to my face as to why you were out walking around when you should have been in class or are you going to start telling the truth now?"

Neither boy had an answer.

"Okay, so we're going to do it the hard way, then." Mr. Trainor checked through their attendance records. "Four unexcused absences each and we're not even halfway through with the first quarter. Interesting."

He put a call into Emily and Kim. Unfortunately, for the boys, Sam and Jared showed up instead. They looked surprised to see us there. We explained how we found the boys walking along the street. They became furious. In fact, I was worried that Sam was going to phase in the office. I caught a glimpse of Paul whispering something to Sam, most likely an alpha order to keep it together.

The boys were sent out of the office for a few minutes. Mr. Trainor spoke to Sam and Jared, "Normally, I'd suspend the boys for cutting school, but in this case, I think it's what they want. I'd like to give them a few Saturday detentions, but I'm afraid that would just be a slap on the wrist. I'm open to suggestions on how you want to handle this situation."

Sam and Jared both looked perplexed, but Paul spoke up, "I noticed that you have a fund drive going for new flooring in your school gymnasium."

"Yes, but we still have quite a long way until we reach our goal."

"Not anymore. Beginning this Saturday, I'll come in with the two boys and their fathers and we'll be supervising them as they install new flooring for your gym. Lahote Engineering Design and Construction will write off the cost of all the supplies and labor. Would that be amenable to you?"

"Mr. Lahote, that's very generous of you. Are you sure you want to do this for our school?"

"It's no problem. I'd rather my nephews learned the value of hard work. If you show us the gym, we'll be able to take measurements and order the supplies. Sam, do you have a tape measure in your truck?"

"I do."

"Of course, that's wonderful. I also have the original blueprints if that would help."

"Actually, that would."

"Mr. Uley, Mr. Cameron, do you feel the punishment is appropriate or too harsh?"

"I think it's perfect. It's high time those two learned a lesson. Now, are there any other kids that need to be taught the same lesson? We can supervise them as well. We'd be able to get the work done a lot quicker with more hands," Sam replied.

"Oh, I have quite a few," Mr. Trainor grinned.

"Eight am on Saturday, then. Tell the kids to pack a lunch," Paul said. My wife and I actually need to get to work. Shall I send the boys in so you can tell them?"

"Oh, please do," he chuckled while rubbing his palms together. "Thank you again, Mr. Lahote, Bella."

"Ryan, Sammy, it's judgment time. The principal wants to see you both," my husband told them in a deadly voice. Alright, now that's going too far. He didn't have to sound all sinister and menacing. The boys are scared enough as it is.

I gave each boy a hug and told them to behave before I sent them inside to face the wrath of Mr. Trainor and their fathers.

Paul and I headed to my car so I could drive him to work.

"Why the hell did you hug them after I scared the shit out of them, Bells?"

"Don't you think you were a little harsh on the boys?" I countered.

"Bella, you heard Mr. Trainor, this is the fourth time they've cut school and it's only the beginning of October. They need to learn the value of a good education. If we don't teach them now, they won't even get out of the ninth grade."

"I suppose you're right."

"Bella, you were able to hold down a part time job while you were still in high school and still get good grades. Sammy and Ryan don't have part time jobs, all they have to do is go to school and do their work. They can't even manage that. And what the hell is it with these kids drinking coffee in high school nowadays? I was lucky if I had anything other than milk and water, and my mom was an alcoholic."

"Oh, I know. Caffeine addiction is a huge problem with kids nowadays. I see it all the time in my practice. Parents are doling out iced coffee to kids in elementary school as if it were chocolate milk."

We arrived at Paul's work. I gave him a kiss and told him that I'd be by to pick him up at a quarter after six, then rushed off to work. Emily was already there when I arrived. I had never seen her looking so furious in my life.

"Does that little brat even realize how hard his dad and I work to make ends meet? I babied him too much, Bella," she complained. "I think the punishment that they're getting is just. Sometimes I wonder if I should have separated Ryan and Sammy like Quil and Rachel did with Number Six. They used to get into so much trouble together in La Push."

Number Six was attending a private high school. Quil and Rachel purposely moved to a different town solely based on school choice. Scottsdale had a good school district, but they were so freaked out after Number Six was offered drugs at his previous school that they threw him into a private high school.

Kim walked into the office for her postpartum check-up then. Emily set her up in a room and the three of us talked while I examined an angry Kim.

"You need to calm down, your blood pressure is a little elevated."

"I would, but I'm so mad. That little brat just pissed me off to no end! Ugh! I'm grounding him as soon as he gets home."

I changed the subject to get to business. "Kim, we need to discuss birth control. What do you want to do?"

"Oh, I want birth control. I don't care what it is. Just give me something. Jared's completely against it. He'd have twenty kids if he could, but you know, as well as I do, that he's being unreasonable."

"Okay, well, you have several choices. Emily and I both take The Pill. There's also the IUD, it's a T-shaped device that lasts for ten years, there's also Depo-Provera, better known as the shot."

"Um, I'll do The Pill. I did some research on it and it's the most cost effective. I just take it when I take my multi-vitamin every night, right?"

"Yes, and it's 99.9 percent effective if you can remember to take it."

"You'll have to use a back-up method the first month. I can give you some condoms."

"Sure, the problem is convincing Jared to use them. I just won't have sex with him this month, I'd rather deal with his pouting than deal with him whining about condoms. I'll just lie to him and tell him that you said no sex because I still need to heal."

"Okay," I chuckled. "You're all set, I just need to see you for six months for a quick follow up. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes," she said. "Bella, would you give me some sort of a diet plan. I know that I'm about forty pounds overweight and I want to do something about it."

"I'm glad you brought that up. I was hoping that you would. Now is a great time to lose weight since you're burning a lot of calories with breastfeeding. We have a brochure from the American Heart Association with a sensible diet plan included in it. I'd suggest following that and walking everyday for the time being. You can push Riley in his stroller while you walk."

"Any other questions or comments, Kim?"

"Yes, I just want to say that you're so much better than the doctors at the tribal clinic. I don't think birth control was ever discussed with me at any appointments."

"You're kidding me?"

"Nope." Kim abruptly gave me a big hug. "Thank you so much for caring."

"Anytime, you're worth it," I said, recalling the time Jasper told me those words in a hotel room in Phoenix. His one line, 'you're worth it,' has been my driving force whenever I feel upset or not so much myself. That one line was powerful, heck, it even works when I want to have an extra scoop of ice cream. I always say, 'you're worth it' to myself as an excuse, then I go to the gym the next day and do an extra twenty minutes on the elliptical to burn off the extra calories.

I gave Kim the brochure and her prescription. She thanked me again and went on her way.

Emily and I went back to work for the rest of the day. The two of us worked well together. When the practice expanded, Emily became my personal medical assistant. I was happy because Emily was conscientious, caring, and efficient. My last medical assistant was sloppy and it bothered me to no end. Dr. Blanchard had to work with her one day in August and he fired her. He hired Emily a month early to her delight.

At six pm, I left work to pick Paul up. We went to get his truck, then decided to go out for dinner. We ended up eating at Taco Bell because we were so exhausted from the days events. I couldn't wait for the weekend to arrive so I could sleep in.

**Sam's POV**

I was irate at my son who was sitting beside me in the passenger seat of my truck whining as if it were my fault that he cut school.

"Dad! This isn't fucking fair. Why the hell do I have to waste my Saturday rebuilding the gym?"

"First of all, watch your mouth when you talk to me. I'm still your father. Second, you and Ryan chose to cut school so you'll take your punishment like men!"

"I hate school! And I hate you!"

"You can hate me all you want, boy, but while you're living in my house, you're going to be a good son, go to school, and work hard. I won't have you screwing around and not going to school."

"It wasn't my idea to move here! I was happy on the reservation. The only friend I have here is Ryan!"

"Were you really? Because I can remember you bitching about us not having enough money. I also remember you, Ryan, and Number Six running home scared shitless because some jerks tried to push drugs on the three of you. Do you really want to go back to that? Do you want your baby sister to be exposed to that?"

"N...n...no. I just hate the idea of wasting my Saturdays."

"Listen to me, son. I know it's a hard lesson to swallow, but you brought this onto yourself. You did the crime so you pay the price. Trust me, when I say that this is a hell of a lot easier than having to go to jail. That's what happens to kids who slack off, they usually end up in jail. Then, you're surrounded by guys like the ones that tried to give you drugs at the tribal school. Do you know why your mother and I moved out here?"

"So you could make more money?"

"No, so we could give you and your sister a better life. Your mother and I didn't have a chance to go to college. Look at how Uncle Paul and Aunty Bella live compared to us. They have a better life because they worked their asses off to get through college and they still work their asses off everyday. I want you and your sister to have good lives, I don't want you to have to work as hard as your mother and I do to make ends meet. Sure, life is a little easier now, but that's only because Uncle Paul gave us an opportunity so we could provide better for you kids."

Sammy looked away and out the window. "I'm sorry, Dad," he whispered, a tear rolled down his cheek. I pulled my truck over on the side of the road. I turned my teenaged son's teary eyed face over to face mine.

"Hey, I know it isn't easy being a teenager. Believe it or not, I was one once. I had to be in order to get to this point and I've made my fair share of mistakes. Just ask grandma or grandpa, they can tell you stories in which I put them through hell and back. But Sammy, part of growing up involves learning to make your own decisions. You and Ryan happened to make a bad one and now you have to suffer the consequences. And I can tell you that it's through those bad ones that you learn the most from. No matter how angry your mother and I become with you, we still love you. We've always loved you and we always will." I gave my son a hug and let him sob into my arms. He needed that. He needed to know that no matter what, I would always be there for him.

I pulled up into the high school parking lot. Paul, Jared, and a scowling Ryan were already there, but what surprised the hell out of me were the twelve other kids along with their fathers or mothers that were waiting for us.

One of the fathers, Tim, was part of my crew at work. "Sam, this is my son Greg. He's a freshman here and he'll be working with us on Saturdays until he gets it through his thick skull that he needs an education so he doesn't have to work as hard as we do. The numskull somehow thought that going to the skateboard park during school gave him an education."

A few more fathers introduced themselves and their sons or daughters to us. Among the fathers, there was an electrician, a mechanic, a couple of carpenters, a couple of guys in construction currently looking for employment, a brain surgeon, a lawyer, and even a gas station attendant. There was also a mother that was a housewife, and one that worked for FedEx delivering packages. All of them were here because their kids had cut school and they felt that they needed to be taught a good, hard life lesson. With the two guys in construction and the two carpenters plus my buddy from work, I felt sure that we had enough help to get the job done over a few Saturdays even with these inexperienced kids. Paul divided us all into teams with the carpenters and the construction guys leading them. We started out by pulling the stands out and removing the basketball hoops.

At the end of the day, the kids didn't know what hit them. They had never worked so hard in their lives and we weren't even close to done. Next weekend we were ripping out the flooring and the week after that, we were painting. After this was all over, I doubted that any of these kids would ever be cutting school again.

We were in the parking lot loading up our equipment when the unemployed construction workers approached Paul. "Mr. Lahote, my name is Chris Benson and this is my friend Carl Hirsch. We were wondering if you have any openings at your company. We've both been unemployed for about eight months now and our unemployment is gone. We each have four kids. Our wives work, but it's tough without a second income."

"Why don't you call my office on Monday morning and I'll see what I can do. Do you both have GEDs or high school diplomas."

"Yes, sir, we do."

"Alright, call my secretary, Lorna, and she'll put you in for interviews. Bring your resumes. Good luck."

"Thank you, sir," they both said, gratefully, before hopping into their trucks and leaving.

"Uncle Paul, why did you ask them if they had GED's or high school diplomas?" Sammy asked.

"Because, I don't hire anyone without a basic education. It shows me that they have a sense of accomplishment in them. That's why I was furious when I caught you and Ryan cutting class. There won't be any more of that, will there be?"

"No, Uncle Paul," they both mumbled.

"Besides, Aunty Bella prefers men that work hard and have an education."

"I can do that!" Ryan piped in. "Yep, I'll prove to Aunty Bella that I can be the kind of man she'll cougar after."

"You do that, kid."

"She likes me better, Ryan. The other day, she smiled at me and she baked chocolate chip cookies for me."

"Fuck you, asshole!"

"Hey! Watch your mouth before I wash it out with soap!" Jared stated.

"Who's Aunty Bella?" Greg, Tim's son, asked my son.

"Let me show you." He whipped out a photo of Bella from Disneyworld. The one in which Ryan and Sammy were staring down at her tits.

"Whoa! Nice titties. When can I meet her?"

"She's my wife," Paul chuckled.

"Bummer. Does she do any babysitting?" I had to laugh. If anything, this kid was persistent. "Hey, do you guys want to come over and play some X-box?"

Sammy and Ryan both looked at me and Jared pleadingly.

"It's okay with me if it's okay with you," Tim said.

"Sure," I gave in. The kid was supposed to be grounded, but I knew how hard it's been for him to make friends.

"Alright, but mind your manners. Thanks, Tim," Jared said. "What time should I come and get him?"

"I'll give you both a call. We can crack open a couple of beers then."

We both nodded our heads and Tim loaded the boys up in his truck.

"Well, fuck, Emily is gonna kill me for being too easy on him. He's supposed to be grounded."

"Same here. Ryan was crying about not being able to make friends though, so I had to let him go."

"Do you guys want to lay low at my place?" Paul asked.

"Yeah, definitely."

"Well, come on. I'll meet you both there. We'll fire up the grill."

A couple of hours later, the three of us were hanging out at Paul's house when he got a call from Sue. With our wolf hearing we could hear the entire conversation.

"_Paul, this is mom. The BIA completed their investigation and the tribal council has been put back into place temporarily. Apparently, they're going to go through our personal files now and we'll be questioned individually at a later date by Jeff Redbird. Billy, Josh, and I have nothing to worry about, and I'm pretty sure that Old Quil is okay too. I have a feeling that Tony Fuller is in trouble, though. I'm just worried about the future of our tribe."_

"I'm sure the tribe will be fine. The BIA don't want to dissolve tribes, they're more concerned about tribal welfare than anything."

"_There's another thing. Now that Tony and Old Quil are back at the helm, they've ordered Jacob to alpha order you and the rest of the tribe back to La Push. He's on his way to Phoenix now with Angela. Dad has sent Seth and Leah to you on wolfback. They should beat Jake and Angela there."_

"Thanks, Mom. I'll get the pack together," Paul said before hanging up.

"I'm calling everyone now," I said. "What should we do about the imprints?"

"They should just stay put at home. Bella!"

"What's up?" she came downstairs carrying a load of laundry and a screwdriver and a hammer.

"We've got company. Jake and Angela are on their way here and so are Seth and Leah."

"Okay, so what should I do?"

"I know, you can marinate some steaks. I'll grill. That way, when those dumb fucks show up we can act as normal as possible," Jared said, walking up to Bella and carefully extracting the screwdriver and hammer from her hand. The woman should never handle tools and that went double for her father. The month before we left La Push, Brady, Jared, and I spent the time doing home repairs for Sue and Charlie's house. He had painted over layers and layers of duct tape that he used to hold up the rain gutters around their house.

"Thanks for taking the tools from her," Paul whispered gratefully so only we could hear before saying out loud, "You know something, you've got a point there Jared. Do you think Missy's mom will babysit overnight? I'll pay her. What if we were having a family get together when Jake and Angela arrive? Our imprints could all just be hanging out chatting."

"I'm pretty sure she'd babysit since this is tribal business," I said. "Let me give her a call."

"Offer her a thousand bucks and tell her that I won't let her refuse the cash," Paul said.

I was about to place my call when my cell phone rang. It was Tim asking if Sammy and Ryan could sleep over. Jared nodded 'yes' to me. I told him it was fine. It was probably the best place for those two to be.

Three hours later, Seth and Leah arrived, soaked to the bones. Leah had a portable breastpump with her.

"I had to strap this to me instead of my cell phone. Bella can I borrow some clothes? It was pouring rain in Washington and Oregon on the way here."

"Oh my God! You don't even have to ask. Come on. Seth, you can wear Paul's clothes."

We heard two showers going off upstairs. Everyone else arrived right around that time. The imprints all had food with them. After Seth and Leah were freshly showered, we sat down and discussed how we were going to handle this.

"He can't give us an alpha order anymore, that much is for sure," Quil said. "I felt an internal shift when we pledged our loyalty to Paul. Besides, I've been doing my fifty sit-ups a day religiously."

"Maybe it's time you upped it to a hundred," Paul suggested.

"Is that an alpha order, man?"

Paul wagged his eyebrows at Quil and smirked, indicating that it was.

"Why the hell is he bringing Angela?" Leah asked.

"Most likely to try to convince the wives as the alpha's imprint," I said. "You know how she thinks she wields some sort of power over the imprints because she's the alpha's wife."

"Hey, Jared, Embry! The steaks are ready for you!" Bella shouted from the kitchen.

"Did you pound them with a mallet like I showed you?"

"Yes, Embry."

"Did you make half-inch cut throughout the steaks and alternate garlic slices and butter in between the seams?"

"I refuse to go to all that trouble."

"Bella! It really infuses the flavor of the butter and the garlic that way!"

Jessica came out of the kitchen looking all feral. She started waving a wooden spoon at him and some batter landed on his nose. "Embry Call, if you want your steaks done a specific way then you do it yourself. We still have side dishes to finish!"

"But, Jess..."

"Uh!" She held her spoon up. "Not another word from you!"

"Fine, come on Jared, you're going to have to help me do the steaks," he sighed.

"Hey! We're having a fucking meeting here!"

"Well, are you going to alpha order us to attend the meeting or do you want your steaks? We're going to follow your lead anyway."

"Go make the steaks. The garlic and butter infusion sounds delicious actually," Paul sighed.

_**An hour later...**_

_Knock! Knock! Knock! _The unwanted couple of the hour was here. Paul went to the door to answer it.

"Jake, Angela, what brings you to Phoenix?"

"We have some tribal business to discuss," Jake stated with a serious expression.

"So, why did you bring Angela?"

"She needs to talk to your imprint as the alpha's imprint."

"Well, Jake, that's Bella's choice. If she doesn't want to talk to Angela then she doesn't have to. She's not a member of the tribe so...rules are rules...or did the Bureau of Indian Affairs neglect to tell you that."

"You know damn well that they don't know about us being wolves. I'm the alpha. I make the rules for the wolves. Angela is the alpha's imprint, she makes the rules for the imprints."

"I've never heard of this alpha's imprint rule. Is this a new thing?"

Jake didn't answer Paul's question. Instead, he came out with, "Are you going to let me in your house or not?"

"Sure, we're just having a party here."

Jake and Angela looked stunned to see the entire pack gathered together.

"Well, if it isn't my kid brother and his wife. What the hell are you two doing in Phoenix?" Rachel asked.

"We have tribal business with Paul. In fact, I'm glad you're all here because we can get this over with in one fell swoop."

"Well, can you wait until dinner is over because I'm sure that whatever you have to say is going to fuck up my appetite. I'd like to eat while I still have one. It's bad enough that you brought your wife with you." Angela rolled her eyes upon hearing Rachel. "Show some fucking respect, bitch. I'm the mighty alpha's big sister."

Everyone smirked upon hearing that. Rachel never held back her feelings of dislike for Angela.

"How's Will?" Quil asked.

"He's good. He misses your Number Six, Ryan, Sammy, and his aunts and uncles." Jake seemed to notice then, that Leah and Seth were here. "What are you two doing here? We just left you in La Push."

"Oh, Bella invited us over for dinner," Seth said nonchalantly.

"So, you both just ran up here? Does this happen often?"

"Sure, from time to time."

"How come I didn't know about this?"

"Jake, Seth and Leah are my stepbrother and stepsister. They're family," Bella gushed with a brilliant smile.

Leah, then, hammed it up by walking up to Bella and hugging her. "I love you, little sis."

"I love you, too, big sis."

Angela opened her mouth. "If this is a family dinner, then why are everyone else here?"

"It's a dinner for friends and family, Angela."

"So, why wasn't Jake invited?"

"He's neither friend nor family, but since you both so rudely showed up unannounced, I'm going to be a polite hostess and invite you both to dine with us."

"Thanks, Bella," Jacob said while Angela just humphed. Rude bitch. I looked at Emily and she looked like she was ready to throw down with Angela. Secretly, I loved seeing Emily get angry. She did it so rarely, but when she did, she was oh so sexy. I wonder if we could set up a mud pit and have her wrestle Angela in the nude? No, that wouldn't work, seeing Angela naked would be a buzz kill. But Bella...now that would be awesome. Hell, the two of them can just roll around naked in the mud. They don't even have to fight each other.

We sat outside at the dining table and chatted about nothing of importance really. Jake kept sneaking looks at Bella out of the corner of his eye. He didn't think we noticed, but we all did. He still wasn't over her, that much we all knew. The last time we all phased together, he was still running thoughts of Bella through his mind and that was about six years ago. He had long since been married to Angela and already had a couple of kids. He felt an enormous amount of guilt for the way he treated her, he really had loved her, but the imprint was powerful and he had no control over it. That's how it was with me and Leah. For the longest time, we could barely be in the same room, then she imprinted on Eric Yorkie, and she finally understood. We talked it out, just the two of us, and now Leah was one of my best friends in the pack.

"This steak is delicious, did you make it, Bella?" Jake asked.

"I wish I could take the credit for it, but it was Embry and Jared. I made the shrimp cocktail and the potato salad. Everyone contributed, really.

"Wow, guys, I'm impressed."

"Thanks."

A few minutes later, we were all done eating. Our wives all started cleaning up. Normally, we'd help, but we had agreed earlier that they would do it to give Jake a chance to state his business. I noticed that Angela didn't help at all. She just sat at the kitchen counter twiddling her thumbs, acting like she was royalty. Who the fuck did she think she was?

"So, Jake. You said that you had tribal business to discuss. Go ahead," Paul started.

"I'll get down to business, then. The fact is that all of you need to return to La Push. You're all members of the tribe and that's where you belong."

"That's not a good enough reason, Jake. You know as well as I do that the tribe has no say on where we choose to live."

"Those laws don't apply to you. You're all wolves and a part of my pack." He used his alpha timber next, "As your alpha, I'm ordering you to return to La Push. Furthermore, I'm giving an alpha order to Paul and Embry to annul your marriages and re-marry your imprints on Quileute land so that they become full members of our nation."

We all sat there and smirked at him. He donned a confused, desperate expression before he repeated his command, "I'm ordering you to return to La Push with your imprints! Paul and Embry, you will annul your marriages and re-marry your imprints on Quileute land!"

"And why should we do that?" Embry asked. "You don't have a say over our lives."

"As alpha, I do. Angela, as the alpha's imprint, is going to give the same order to your imprints."

"Well, Jake, I hate to tell you this, but we all have careers over here," Jared stated. "We can't just up and leave them."

Jacob looked absolutely perplexed. It was obvious that his alpha order wasn't affecting us. "Jared, I offered you a position as a mechanic in my shop. Four hundred dollars a week will go a long way."

"Jake, I have six kids. You try feeding them on four hundred dollars a week. And I don't know of any mechanic that only makes four hundred dollars a week."

"The job at the tribal store is still available for Kim."

"She was practically getting paid minimum wage, Jake. We just couldn't make ends meet."

"You could always apply for food stamps."

Bella heard Jake from the kitchen. She stormed into the living room looking pissed off and stared him down.

"What the fuck did you just say, Jacob Black? Did you just tell Jared that he and Kim could apply for food stamps?"

"Sure, a lot of members of our nation do that."

"They don't want government support, that's why they're here. They want to support their family on their own. They have a sense of pride! My God, Jake—where the hell is yours? Can't you respect people for wanting to make something of themselves? Oh, and you do realize that the food stamp program was created during the Great Depression as a temporary means of support for families until they could get on their feet, don't you? It's not supposed to be something that you use permanently to support your family with."

"Bella, the tribe provides housing for free. And as Native Americans, they all can take advantage of the Indian Health Service system on any reservation. The tribal school is right on the land. Honestly, you don't need much to get by."

"So, since they get all of these federal benefits for free, they should just hop on back to La Push and live there, right? What about car insurance? What about college for the kids? What about a retirement plan? What about being able to give your kids a few extras like maybe signing them up for little league or an art class? Do you really think four hundred dollars a week is going to get them there?"

Jake didn't say anything. He clamped his mouth shut tight because he knew that Bella had a point. We were all staring in awe at our alpha's wife because she was on a mission to pound shit through Jake's thick skull.

"Let's break it down, shall we? You're offering to pay Jared four hundred dollars a week, that's roughly sixteen hundred dollars a month. But wait, you're going to pull out taxes and social security from his paycheck, fortunately, Washington doesn't have a state income tax. Let's be generous and leave him with fourteen hundred dollars a month. And that's being very generous too. Car insurance is a hundred bucks a month. Again, we're being generous. We'll say a hundred dollars for his light bill and a hundred bucks for cable, internet, and phone. Jared still has twelve hundred dollars left. Oops, then there's gas. There goes four hundred dollars. That knocks him down to eight hundred dollars. Oh, but he has to put shoes on his kids feet and clothes on their backs, kids do have a tendency to grow you know. He also has one in diapers. Diapers are extremely expensive. There goes another hundred dollars. What about supplies to make your household run like cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, soap, tampons? Did you forget about those things? A hundred bucks out the window. He also has to feed his family. Now tell me, Jake, you have four kids—can you afford to clothes and feed them on five hundred dollars a month?"

Fuck me, did she just break it down perfectly or what? Bella understood. She may be wealthy, but she's been poor.

Angela piped in then, "Bella, as far as food is concerned, there's a food pantry in La Push and there's also a clothing bank where Jared and Kim can get donated clothes for free."

Did she just fucking say what I think she said? Bella looked murderous. "Oh, you did not just fucking go there, bitch! Don't you think that as parents, Jared and Kim want to provide for their kids on their own? Have you ever been poor, Angela? Have you? It's hard on a kid. Other kids stare at you when your clothes are raggedy. But that's not all, as a kid you see things Angela. You see how other kids have things and you don't, and you wonder why. I'm not talking about the newest toys or possessions. I'm talking about how the girl sitting next to you gets to take ballet and you have to stop because your mother couldn't afford it anymore; or how maybe one of the kids gets to be in Boy Scouts, but you can't because your parents simply don't have the money. Let's not even mention having to hold in your feelings because you know that your parents are poor. Or not being able to invite friends over because there's a big possibility that there's no food in the fridge or the electricity's been turned off because your mother couldn't pay the bill. Do you even have an inkling as to what that can do to a child?"

Someone knocked on the door so I went to answer it quickly. It was Crispy with a delicious looking pie in his hands. I put my finger to my lips and let him in. He placed the pie on the counter then we took in the scene unfolding in front of us from the corner.

Bella continued on with her rant, "So, Angela, until you've lived it. Don't you dare tell other people that it's okay to live that way!"

Angela was completely stunned, but she decided to open her big mouth anyway. "You know something, Bella, you should talk. You're living in grandeur in a fancy mansion with your rich husband. You're the furthest thing from poor."

"Angela, that kid who had no friends, in raggedy clothes and holey shoes, that had to quit ballet, that had no food in her fridge was me. Don't you fucking tell me that I don't know what it's like to be poor. I had to go to the food pantry with my mom, I had to wear donated clothes, it wasn't a good feeling. It sapped the pride right out of me. So, again, I will say—unless you've lived it, don't you dare tell people that it's okay to live that way."

"Well, Bella, if you had any goodness in your heart, you and Paul would see to it that Jared and Kim didn't have to live the way they do when you all move back to the reservation."

"What the fuck did you say to her, bitch?" Kim stood up and got right into Angela's face. "Bella and Paul have already done more for us than your ass has. Without the opportunities that they gave us, we wouldn't be able to provide for our kids like we're able to now."

"How dare you address me that way! I am your alpha's imprint. As such, you will treat me with respect! As the alpha's imprint, I am ordering all of you women to return to La Push where you will obey pack laws and treat me with deference! And Bella and Jessica, you two will annul your marriages and remarry on tribal grounds!"

All of the imprints stared at Angela with smirks on their faces, then suddenly burst out in laughter.

"Um, Angela, an alpha's imprint can't dole out any orders, or didn't they teach you that at imprint school?" Missy asked.

"Oh, no, I think she missed that lesson," Jessica smirked.

"That's it! I am tired of this lack of respect. You will all do as I order! I am the alpha's imprint! You will obey me!" Angela yelled.

A feral Kim got right up into Angela's face, "No one, and I mean no one, tells me what to do. Not Jared, not my parents, and certainly not you and Jake! My name is Kimberly Cameron and I am my own woman!"

Angela slapped Kim across the face, to which Kim promptly responded with a slap back. Angela slapped Kim again. Jared was about to phase, but Paul ordered him to hold it in. Bella got pissed off and clocked a perfect left hook across Angela's jaw. Jake suddenly phased, and flew towards Bella and Kim in wolf form. Then, all hell broke loose.

**Paul was pretty slick at the governor's mansion, wasn't he? What did you think of Ryan and Sammy ditching school and Paul's form of punishment? What did you think of Jake and Angela's visit? Do you all have your claws out at Angela? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. I promise to respond to your reviews. XOXO mama4dukes**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you for your wonderful reviews, messages, alerts, and faves. I truly do appreciate the awesome feedback. As you've probably deduced, I've been extremely busy these last few weeks. Those four rugrats of mine are running me ragged, but in a good way. That being said, I'll do my best to post another chapter before the end of the year. I'd like to wish my readers a holiday season filled with joy, peace, and love. We'll begin chapter 11 by rescuing you from that cliff I left you hanging on. **

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Paul's POV**

Jake suddenly phased into wolf form and shot out to attack Bella and Kim. "Keep all of the imprints safe," I ordered in my alpha timber. I saw Jared, in human form, grab Bella and Kim and whisk them away to safety. The others imprints were rushed to a safe part of the living room. Rage overtook my body and I phased on the fly and collided with Jake in midair. Jake was knocked out of my grasp by two others who effectively knocked him to the ground, crushing him. There was no way in hell that we were going to let any of our imprints get attacked by a wolf. We were snarling at Jake who was now immobile in wolf form. On the side, I saw Jared doing a visual check of both Kim and Bella to make sure that they were okay.

Angela freaked out, grabbed her cell phone, and tried to call someone. Emily pulled some sort of a Jackie Chan stunt, kicked the phone out of her hand—shattering it, and shoved her up against the wall by the neck. That was actually kind of hot.

"_I know man, wasn't it?"_ Sam thought back to me. _"Emily is into those martial arts movies."_

That's when I saw Sam running thoughts of Emily and Bella rolling around nude in the mud. _"Sam, what the hell, man? That's my imprint."_

"_You've got to admit that the idea is pretty hot."_

"_Yeah, it is. We'll keep it between the two of us though."_

"_And me, as long as we can throw a muddy, naked Babs into the ring along with Emily and Bella."_

There were two giant wolves and a giant coyote growling at a petrified Jake. Jared, in human form, had Bella and Kim behind him and completely protected. He couldn't phase because I had ordered him to hold it in. I saw Brady rush over to flank him, while Leah flanked Emily with a deadly scowl on her face.

Wait a minute. What the hell is Crispy doing here?

"_I came here to drop off some of Babs' pumpkin pie," _he said, motioning with one paw to the delicious looking pie on the counter, then his eyes widened.

"_Can you hear me, Crisp?" _I asked.

"_Yep."_

"_But you shouldn't be able to hear me, right?"_

"_Nope."_

"_Um, guys, I can hear you, too," _Sam piped in.

"_What the fuck?"_ the three of us thought.

"_Can you hear Jake?" _ I asked, mentally.

"_No,"_ they both replied.

"_Fuck me," _all three of us thought at once.

I returned to human form. "Jake, when you phase back to human form. Sam and my friend here will do the same. Don't you, for one moment, think of returning to wolf form after that, though. Sam will attack to kill on my orders, he has no qualms about doing that. My friend will just do it on his own accord, he has no loyalty to you or to me."

Five minutes later, more chaos ensued in my house. Crispy's pack came crashing through my patio door in coyote form and immediately flanked Sam and Crispy. Now, Jake was quite literally shaking and so was Angela on the other side of the room. She looked like she was about to pee her pants. She'd better not urinate on my floor! Four other horse-sized coyotes were staring down Jake along with Sam and Crispy.

Bella approached Jake and trained her eyes on him. What the hell is she doing? Damn it.

"Jake, look at me," she said firmly. He did as she directed. "The coyotes won't hurt you. They're our friends, but if you move to attack me again they will. You don't want me to get hurt, do you?"

He shook his big furry head no. "I'll stay right here with you if you want, just phase back so we can all talk. Are you hurt?"

He nodded his head that he was. "Missy, would you grab my medical bag from my bedroom?" she asked.

Jake phased back to human form. He was lying on the floor clutching his ribs and his leg. Crispy and most of his pack phased back to human form. Manny was still in coyote form and Sam was still too angry to phase back from wolf form. I've been there, it used to be me that was unable to shift back. I recalled the first time I met Bella when we were still in high school and she slapped me across the face. I was so angry that Sam had to coax me for about twenty minutes until I was finally able to return to human form. He even started belting out Christmas songs to try to make me laugh. I chuckled thinking about that time. Bella was depressed and dependent on Jacob back then, but damn she was a firecracker. She had guts even back then.

"Sam, think happy thoughts," I urged, giving him the same advice that he used to give me when he was alpha. It looked like Manny was trying to talk to him. Can Manny hear his thoughts, too? It took Sam about ten minutes, but he was finally able to do it.

Bella started checking Jake's injuries out immediately. "Randy, this is too complicated for me. He's beginning to heal already. I can do his ribs, but I can't do his leg, I think it needs to be re-broken again."

Randy put his professional mask on. Well, as professional as you could be naked. "I'm Dr. Kayani, I won't hurt you. I need to take a look at your injuries," he said.

Jake nodded his head. Randy checked Jake's injuries out. "You're right Bella. I have to break his leg again in order to reset his bone. Are you in pain anywhere else?"

"I think I dislocated my shoulder," Jake groaned. "And my ribs hurt."

"Alright, let's get him to my office. Bella, you're going to have to assist. Maybe Emily and Missy can help too. Do you mind if we take you to my office? It's about a ten minute ride. You can't exactly go to a hospital, I can help you there."

"That's fine."

"Wait! Jake, how do we know if we can trust these people?"

"Angela, it's not like I have a choice. Bella won't let me get hurt, will you?"

"No, he'll be fine, Angela. Randy's a great doctor. I go to him myself."

Angela's face turned into a grimace.

"Alright, let's move him carefully. Paul, I'll need your help."

"Ahem!" Leah cleared her throat loudly. I hate to tell you this. I really do because I'm having live erotic dreams watching you all, but...um...you're all naked."

"Damn it, Leah! Did you have to tell them?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, you ruined the god-damned pretty view for all of us," Rachel agreed.

"Um, I'll go and get some of Paul's clothes," Bella giggled, then wagged her eyebrows at a naked Jeff. God damn it!

What the hell is wrong with the imprints of my pack. They're all a bunch of perverts. They all go into heat as soon as they see Crispy's pack naked. We have an injured wolf here. It doesn't matter if I don't like his ass. He's still injured, and all they could do is think about naked men. I'm gonna have to alpha order all of my guys to get into shape. They're looking pudgy compared to Crispy's pack.

While Bella was upstairs, I took a look at our kitchen and living room. It was in shambles. It looked like a tank drove through it and took the whole thing out. Phew, at least my coffee bar survived. There are small miracles to be thankful for, Bella can be a tyrant without her morning coffee.

Bella rushed back down with an armful of clothes for us and a blanket for Jake. We quickly got dressed, and rushed him to Randy's clinic. Most of the guys stayed back, but Sam, Brady, and I went along with Randy, Bella, Emily, and Missy. Crispy followed us there too.

Two hours later, Jake was all patched up. His leg was rebroken and fitted with a cast, his dislocated shoulder was put back into place, and his ribs were taped up. We returned to my house where the guys had started cleaning up my destroyed living room. I would need to install new patio doors. Maybe I can put in the French doors like Bella wants. And the kitchen, we won't even go there, the whole thing needs to be redone.

We laid Jake down on one of the sofas. "Jacob, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" Angela asked.

"Why would they hurt me, Angela? Dr. Kayani just reset my leg so it would heal properly."

"It's just that they're coyotes," she whispered, as if we couldn't hear her.

"Um, our hearing is just as sensitive as theirs, for your information," Manny told her. "And just to let you know, those guys are wolves."

Angela's eyes widened in fear.

"Honey, we need to hear what Paul has to say. Just sit with me, okay?" Jake said. Yeah, and keep your fucking trap shut, bitch. Everything that comes out of your mouth is ignorant.

"Alright, Jake...we need to talk..."

"Um, do you think I can have something to drink first, Paul. I'm kind of parched."

"Sure, what would you like? We have beer, wine, liquor, grapefruit juice, coffee, tea, milk, and water."

"A beer would be great, thanks."

"Anyone else?" I called out. Almost all of the guys wanted a beer. I made my way to my beer fridge in the garage. Crispy came with me to give me a hand. He motioned his head towards the street as soon as he got in there.

I hopped into Bella's car with him and yelled that I was going on a quick beer run.

As soon as we were out of the garage, Crispy asked, "What the fuck was that earlier, Paul? I've never been able to communicate with anyone outside of the pack in coyote form."

"I was hoping that you had an answer. After I phased back to human form, was the rest of your pack able to communicate with Sam?"

"Yes, and they're freaked out. Manny actually talked him back to human form. Sam was pretty pissed off. He showed me what Jake and Angela did to Bella when she was still in high school. I guess Emily was so upset that she cried for a week straight after Bella left."

"Yeah, she wasn't happy at all. Jake could have handled it better, he and Bella were best friends, and Angela was her best friend in high school. Believe it or not, though, I think all of that bad shit needed to happen to Bella to make her stronger. What happened with Jake was the catalyst in making her stronger."

"Why the hell would Jake attack two of your mates? Don't you have rules against that?"

"Of course we do. Our priority as a pack is to keep all imprints safe and happy."

"Well, heck, when you think about it, Jake is no longer a part of your pack. Maybe subconsciously his wolf knew that. Bella and Kim wouldn't be a priority just like Angela wouldn't be a priority for you. Still, though, why would you attack two defenseless women?"

"You've got a good point there, Crispy.

"Okay, what are you planning on doing about Jake?"

"I'm not sure yet. I think I should just tell him that I'm the pack's new alpha and whether he follows my lead or not is his choice. He's gonna want an explanation as to why you guys are coyotes, though."

"I'll give him the basics, you leave that to me. I don't think we should tell him that we can communicate telepathically yet. After he leaves, we need to have a meeting in animal form with both of our packs because, for the life of me, I can't figure out what the hell just happened."

"I agree, but I have another question for you. How did your guys know that you were in trouble?"

"We have a kind of internal sensor that goes off whenever one of our guys or mates are in danger. We feel it through our bodies even in human form."

"Well that must come in handy?"

"It does, but this is the first time it's ever gone off. We've never actually been in any sort of trouble or anything."

We got to the liquor store and I loaded the shopping cart up with a few cases of beer. Jeff showed up in the store just as we were leaving.

"What the hell, Jeff? Did you run here?" Crispy asked.

"Yeah, I wanted to catch you before you two got home. First of all, what the hell was that earlier? We could all communicate with Sam."

"We'll figure that out later. We're just as confused as you are."

"Okay, fine. Listen, the guys at my office have unearthed a ton of shit on your tribe. That Jacob kid is clean, he's just a lackey and an idiot. So is Quil Ateara the Third. Tony Fuller is hiding shit. Tons of shit. Do you realize that no one who works on the reservation has gotten a raise in the last ten years? Oh, and the reason why they can't get a full-time doctor to work for the tribal health center is because they're only offering thirty-seven thousand dollars a year."

"For a doctor?" I asked, outraged. "That's less than what a resident makes!"

"Yep."

"The teachers at the tribal school are making roughly twenty-eight thousand dollars a year and now that Jessica and Rachel are gone, there aren't any who have renewed their teaching licenses left, because the school can't afford to pay for their updates. Oh, and the tribal school has been using the same textbooks for the last twenty years. Twenty, Paul. That's five presidential terms. That's what we've unearthed so far. We have to look at the entire infrastructure. It's going to take some time, and by time, I mean over a year—maybe even two. We have to look thoroughly into everything from healthcare to education to housing to public works. I also need to find a way to subpoena Fuller's personal records. For that, I need to find some dirt on him."

"Gee whiz, what's going on?" I asked.

"I don't know. The BIA office in Portland asked my office to run routine checks on the nearby Makah and Hoh tribes as well. We're also checking into the Quinault Indian Nation. Everything seems okay with those tribes. I know that Fuller is behind everything with the Quileute's, I just can't seem to pin jack shit on him. He's slippery."

"Thanks, Jeff, I owe you one."

"No, you fucking owe me at least ten rounds of golf, you motherfucker. You unintentionally gave me

and my office a fuckton of extra work," he chuckled.

We all laughed on the way home. Jeff and Crispy helped me carry in the cases of beer. Normally, I would have loved to just sit and relax, but it was time to talk to Jake, who couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of my Bella while she sat and chatted with Emily. I noticed that the guys in both Crispy's and my pack were positioned around the room so that they could get to our imprints immediately should something arise—not that Jake could move, but it was nice knowing that the girls were protected.

I put the beer on the coffee table and started passing the bottles out. I popped open a bottle and handed one to Jake. He took it appreciatively and downed it in one go. I gave him another bottle.

He looked at me intently. "I couldn't hear you. I couldn't hear Sam either. What's going on?"

"I'm going to just tell you straight, Jacob. You are no longer the alpha of me, Sam, Jared, Quil, Embry, Seth, Leah, and Brady. They pledged their loyalty to me. You should know that I didn't go out and seek to be their alpha. They shifted their allegiance to me on their own."

"Why?" Jake looked absolutely devastated. "Paul's not even on La Push anymore. How could you simply go behind my back and pledge your loyalties to him? Is it because he offered you jobs?"

Jared decided to speak up, "Let me tell you something, Jacob. A true alpha's priority is for his pack to run cohesively, and for that each pack member has to be happy. We weren't happy Jacob. When Sam was alpha, we were all happy, even if we had to chase after bloodsuckers and run patrols all day. Do you know why that was?"

"No."

"It was because Sam tried his best to make sure that our personal lives were as fulfilled as they could be, regardless of what the tribal council mandated."

"You were happy, though, Jared. You had your kids, your imprint, and your house that was given to you by the council."

"I wasn't happy and neither was Kim because we couldn't get anywhere in life and provide for our children while we were on the reservation. I'm thirty-two years old, Jake. I have six kids, and I just got my GED this summer so I could at least earn a decent paycheck. Prior to that, I was unemployed for almost three years, and we survived on Kim's paycheck and food stamps. Do you know that she was only getting paid twenty cents above minimum wage?"

"What? She should have at least been making ten bucks an hour by now, she's been there for twelve years, no thirteen."

"Exactly. It wasn't easy Jake. And it wasn't until Paul got my ass into gear that I strived to make something of myself and get my GED so I could take the job that he was offering me. You tried to force us all into staying on the reservation, even at the cost of our well-being, that's not what a true alpha does."

"I didn't know."

"Did you take the time to get to know everyone?" Brady asked. "I know you took the time to get to know Collin, but what about the rest of us? You let your personal issues with us get in the way of our happiness. I was offered a great construction job in Tacoma a year and a half ago, until you, Collin, and my father stopped me from going. Do you know what that did to my family? There's more, though. There's a huge reason why I can't follow you as a leader."

"What more could there be?"

"When you, my father, and Old Quil barged in to this house to order Bella and Paul to return to La Push, you actually threatened Bella. As wolves, we protect the pack, but above all, we protect our imprints. You failed in that respect when you tried to put your hands on Bella. You're lucky that Paul stopped you because if you had laid even one finger on her, you would have been dead and buried, ten feet underground, because we would have all taken great pleasure in tearing you apart. But then you went and did it again tonight. This time you phased and tried to attack Bella and Kim both. Even though Angela was at fault here, none of us moved to attack her. You give me one good reason why I shouldn't end your life right here and now?"

Jake didn't say anything for a few minutes and looked contemplative. He finally looked up at Bella and said, "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I should have never listened to Tony because, Brady's right, the safety of an imprint is pack priority. Kim, I apologize to you, too."

Bella nodded her head in acknowledgment.

Angela suddenly spoke, "You know this is all fine and dandy, but it still doesn't explain why Paul is suddenly alpha and why these guys turn into giant coyotes. It also doesn't explain why you guys broke tribal law and left the reservation. Wolves aren't supposed to leave the reservation, it's an unwritten law. It's been like that from the beginning when the shapeshifters first came about."

"May I just interject for a second?" Jeff asked.

"Go right ahead," I said.

"Angela, is it?" She nodded her head that she was. "You said yourself that the law is unwritten. Technically, that law doesn't exist. Now, even if it did exist, you have to take into consideration that hundreds of years have passed since the law was enacted. I'm sure times were much simpler when the law was put into place, and those shapeshifters that enacted the law never took into consideration, the fact that survival in the modern world requires people to go out and work. This law was probably enacted during the times when your tribe were primarily hunters and gatherers. We've had to amend several of our laws in order to survive in the modern world as well. Change accompanies the passage of time, even the United States Constitution allows for amendments to be made, should the need arise."

"Well, there's a difference, though, we're talking about shapeshifters here."

"And unless the tribe is going to support them financially throughout their lives—and support them generously, I might add, these shapeshifters are still men who have families and need to survive in the modern world."

"Okay, I'll give you that, but why is Paul suddenly alpha. What gives him the right to up and take away my husband's birthright?"

"It's not Jake's birthright, Angela," Emily said. "Have you ever read any of the legends in the tribal archives that were written by the tribal shaman during Taha Aki's time?"

"No, I haven't," she replied, honestly.

"Well, there's a story in there about the Great Protector. _He would come into power at a time of great unrest for our people..._"

Emily was interrupted, suddenly, by Jake of all people, "_...he would live away from his people, his chosen mate will be a healer with prior knowledge of our world and that of the Cold Ones, he is the true spirit warrior. She will be marked once by a Cold One, then by the Great Protector at a great distance from our lands at their first joining. Together they will bring peace, prosperity, and justice to our people, and they will do so from their land far away_."

"You knew about this?" Angela asked Jake, incredulously.

"Yes, but I didn't think it was Paul. But the part about Bella...well, it makes sense...it makes complete sense. She would have been the only imprint with prior knowledge of our world and she knew that vampires existed. There's more, though."

"More?"

"Yes, and I believe this one involves all of us in this room. _The Great Protector will befriend a spirit warrior from the land of the Cina Ahuwipi. Together they will form an alliance with the people of the Cina Ahuwipi. They will run together as a pack, and protect their tribes and mates from those that threaten to harm them. The god of the underworld will release the Cina Ahuwipi people from their servitude, to be watched over by Taha Aki forevermore. The moment this happens, they will be able to feel and speak with each other as one."_

"Oh my God, that's the bedtime story that Daddy used to tell us," Rachel said. "It's the same one that I used to tell the kids before they went to bed. And Old Quil used to tell the same tale to my Quilly."

"Jacob did the same with our kids," Angela admitted. "I used to think it was just a fairy tale, but seeing what I did today, I know it's true."

"Yeah, but we're not the Cina Ahuwipi people. We're the Wa-Ya brotherhood."

"The Cina Ahuwipi is the Gila River in the language of our ancestors, Manny. I think it's safe to say that they were talking about us," Crispy said in complete shock.

"So what do we do now?" Manny asked.

Jacob turned and looked into my eyes with an intense look, "I, Jacob Black, rescind my right to Alpha and pledge my allegiance to my brother Paul Lahote—the Great Protector, true spirit warrior, and rightful Alpha of the Pack."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, I felt an internal shift in my body, more powerful than when the rest of their pack pledged their loyalty to me. It was almost as if Jacob was transferring what alpha powers he held to me. I actually wobbled where I was standing and I was out of breath when the feeling ended.

"Paul, are you okay?" Bella asked, worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just...weird...I felt the transfer of power emanating throughout my body." She brought me a bottle of water, and urged me to drink it. "Thanks, baby."

I took the water and wrapped my arms around Bella. Jake stared at us longingly.

"How are we going to work this out, Paul?" Crispy asked.

"I have no idea. I suppose we have to do what we've been doing and figure it out as we go along. Jacob, can you try and find out more about the legend you just told us when you return to La Push?"

"I'll do it," Leah said. "I don't think Jacob will be going anywhere for a few days."

"Ask my father. He knows a whole ton of legends," Jake suggested. "How long will it be before I can go home?"

"I think the earliest will be Thursday or Friday, depending on how fast you heal. You can't really return to Washington because I'll need to keep an eye on your injuries and a standard physician will be unable to do so. They'll immediately make the assumption that your leg is infected due to your high body temperature. That's a serious break you have there and you've also fractured your tailbone."

"So, I'll have to call Collin tomorrow and have him run the shop. Angela, you're going to have to go home alone and take care of the kids. Can you handle that?"

"Of course I can."

"Don't say anything to anyone yet. I'll talk to Collin and Linda when I get back."

"Jacob, don't breathe a word of this to Tony Fuller or Old Quil," I stated. "There's something fishy going on in La Push. Old Quil is most likely okay, but Tony Fuller is not to be trusted."

"Did you get that Angela?" Jake asked.

"I did, but where are you going to stay? You're not staying here with Bella, are you?"

So, that's what her problem was. Jealousy. Plain jealousy of my wife, and Jake didn't make it any easier because it was clear that he still had unresolved feelings for her.

"I don't think I have much of a choice, and I doubt that Bella will hurt me."

"Angela, I work all week. I usually get home after Paul does. I have no idea why you perceive me as a threat, but if you prefer, I can go and stay at Crispy's for the week."

"I would, actually."

"Why are you such a raging bitch?" Rachel piped in angrily. "It's you and your god-damned mouth that got my brother injured in the first place, and if it weren't for Bella coaxing him to phase back to human form, his leg probably would never be set right. What the fuck is your problem with her anyway? You and Jake were the ones that fucked her over thirteen years ago!"

"She's the reason I have no friends in Forks or La Push! Everyone sided with her after the prom incident, and all I wanted to do was go to the prom with the man I love, but everyone treated me like a pariah there. Charlie Swan barely says anything to Jacob anymore, and he thought of him as a second father!"

"Don't you dare fucking put the blame on Bella, Angela! You and Jacob should have told her about the imprint as soon as it happened. She, of all people, would have understood. She knew that imprinting was a possibility when she and Jake were dating yet you went behind her back for months! Oh, and Charlie is going to side with Bella, he is her father, not yours or Jacob's. Push comes to shove, a parent will always put his or her child first!"

"We were trying to save her feelings because she was hurt so badly by Edward Cullen!"

"By lying to her?" Emily questioned, joining in the discussion. "Why the hell did you tell her when you did, then? Why didn't you wait until after high school graduation?"

"I was pregnant with Will."

"And that's still no excuse for the way you treated her, and continue to treat her."

"It's so unfair! Bella always gets whatever she wants. First she gets Edward Cullen, then she gets Jacob, and now she gets Paul after he becomes a millionaire? How come she gets the perfect boyfriend in high school? Why does she get the perfect husband and the perfect life? What makes her so fucking special that she gets to jet around the world with the perfect imprint? Why the hell did she get to go to college and have a career instead of being saddled with kids? Why does Bella Swan get to have the good life? And now, you're telling me that her husband gets to be some sort of great alpha leader on top of everything?"

Holy shit, okay, well that was an earful, and my imprint and I are caught smack dab in the middle of it. This is one jealous bitch.

When none of us had a response, Angela continued ranting, "And then there's Jacob! He loves Bella! He still loves her to this day! If Jacob had a choice, he would have imprinted on her. I'm just a vessel that carried his children. I can see it in the way he looks at her, the way he gets jealous whenever Paul touches her. In the beginning, he used to call out her name in bed."

"Well, alrighty, then, I think you two need to talk alone," I said to Angela and Jake. "We'll be...um...at..."

"My house...yes, that's where we'll be," Crispy jumped in. "I'm getting kind of hungry anyway."

"Right, we'll be at his house. We'll be back in the morning. Help yourself to anything in the refrigerator."

There was a mass exodus out of my house and we all headed to Crispy's house which was just down the road from mine. I saw Sam grab Babs' pumpkin pie on the way out stating, "I'll just take this along for the ride." Good, I didn't want to share that with Jake or Angela either.

Babs was in shock at the sudden invasion at her house. "What the hell is going on?"

"Long story," Crispy sighed. "So, what do we have to eat?"

"The rest of you girls best be helping me to cook at this time of night. It's already midnight."

"Can I just point out how fucked up that was?" Emily yelled. "Sam may still have had lingering feelings about Leah in the beginning of our relationship, but he never called her name out in bed."

"Well, now we know what Angela's problem has been all along. Jake is still hung up on Bella and Angela has been jealous of Bella all along. She wanted Cullen, Jake, and Paul," Kim said.

"Oh, someone better start dishing now or...or...I'm not cooking!" Bab's stated.

"It's okay, no one's cooking. I'm going to just hit Pizza King for us. They're open until two am," I said. "Just tell me what you all want."

Jared came along with me for the ride to Pizza King.

"What happened earlier? Manny said that he was able to talk to Sam telepathically."

"Uh, yeah, we're going to have to meet tomorrow morning in wolf and coyote form because some weird cosmic shit went down and, apparently, we can all communicate with Crispy's pack."

"I'm not surprised," Jared said. "We're all pretty close. Think about it Paul, we were all hanging out together and we all had each other's well-being in mind. The imprints are all close too. Maybe Taha Aki saw that and decided that we should be one big group. Plus there's that story that Jacob told us."

"You're probably right, Jared. It's just freaky, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

We were back an hour later with forty pizzas which everyone dug into appreciatively. Leah, Seth, Bella and I stayed overnight at Crispy's while everyone else went home. It was decided that Jacob would stay at Rachel and Quil's house because they had a guest room, and it was more convenient for Randy to check up on him. I was going to take Jake to Quil and Rachel's tomorrow while Quil drove Angela, Seth, and Leah to the airport.

Before that, we men and Leah were going to meet at the Wa-Ya Reservation and meet as wolves and coyotes to hash things out. We were still quite perplexed at how this shared telepathy all happened.

**XOXO**

Bright and early, the next morning, Crispy's pack and my pack, minus Jake, met at the Wa-Ya Reservation in our animal forms. Quil finally taught them all how to strap their shorts to their leg before phasing. Apparently, he was sick of our women ogling Crispy's pack when they were naked in human form.

We sat in our spot in front of the Gila River and spoke telepathically to each other.

Randy was the first to speak, _"I'm officially spooked. I know we're all mythical creatures, but this one takes the cake. Why now? And who the heck made all of those predictions that Jacob was spouting out yesterday?"_

"_It was a shaman from Taha Aki's time. His predictions are in the archives. They were passed down from generation to generation and Quil Ateara the Second finally penned them in the 1930's,"_ Jared informed us.

"_Well, shouldn't we get ahold of that book?"_

"_Yeah, that would be a good idea," _I agreed. _"Maybe you or Seth can go grab it before Fuller gets his claws on it."_

"_I'll do it," _Leah said.

"_Does Fuller have access to the archives?"_ Jeff asked.

"_He does because he's a tribal elder. Jared, I know that you and Em read about the legend in the archives. Other than Quil, Jake, and Rachel, who else knew the story beforehand?" _ No one else seemed to know of the legend. _"Is there any information in your archives, Crispy?"_

"_No, I'm just as perplexed as everyone else. We do have a tribal shaman that knows of the existence of the pack. Maybe we can ask him."_

"I think we need to. I don't think we have a tribal shaman, do we?"

"_My grandfather is the tribal shaman, shit for brains,"_ Quil informed me.

"_He is?"_

"_Duh,_" the rest of the pack confirmed while staring at me with varying looks of incredulity. Okay, so I was a bit out of the loop.

"_I think the question is, now that our packs are combined, who is alpha?" _Barry asked.

"_It's Paul, obviously. He's the Great Spirit Warrior," _Crispy replied.

"_What if I don't want to be alpha?"_

"_Too late, I trust you. I, Crispin Hodges pledge my allegiance to Paul Lahote, the Great Spirit Warrior and rightful alpha of the wolf and coyote packs."_

The rest of Crispy's did the same. I felt a great internal jolt. Then, Sam started repeating the Pledge of Allegiance, so we all put our right hands over our hearts and followed along because we'd be running it through our brains otherwise.

It was decided that Crispy would be my Beta and that Seth would make decisions in place of the Alpha over in La Push. I offered it to Leah first and she actually suggested that Seth would be better because he was calmer than she was and kept his head on straight.

"_So, can I give a beta order as a test, Paul?" _Crispy asked.

"_Sure, go right ahead."_

"_All of you wolves have to get in shape. At this point only Paul, Brady, and Leah have kept in shape. The rest of you are fluffy. If push ever comes to shove, you guys need to be in top fighting form."_

"_Fluffy?" _Jared asked. _"You make us all seem like marshmallows."_

"_Damn it! Now I have an incredible urge to go jogging,"_ Embry said. _"Oh, Paul, when you rebuild your kitchen, I'm coming with you to the appliance store. There's a cool indoor grill that we can install, it'll be great for doing up steaks in the house."_

"_Embry, do you ever think of anything other than food?"_

"_Um, yeah, can we throw Jess into the mud wrestling pit with Emily, Bella, and Babs."_

Great, now everyone was running thoughts of their muddy, naked imprints through their brains. No wonder our women were such pervs. With guys like us as mates, they'd have to be to keep up with us. Gee whiz! Crispy's pack was deviant.

"_You guys are so disgusting!"_ Leah snapped. _"How can you think about your wives like that? Cool whip wrestling? Really, Manny?"_

"_Cool whip tastes better than mud."_

"_Yeah," _we all agreed and suddenly our imprints were covered in Cool Whip in our fantasies.

_**The next day...**_

It was Monday morning and Jake was settled into Quil and Rachel's house. Rachel had driven Seth, Leah, and Angela to the airport yesterday. Meanwhile, I had driven Jake to their house. To say that the car ride was filled with tension was an understatement.

"_Angela and I talked last night,"_ Jacob said.

"_Yeah, it looked like you guys needed to."_

"_Listen Paul, I'm sorry about everything. I really am. I love Angela, not Bella. I still care about her, though, you know."_

"_Maybe you should worry more about Angela. Bella's well cared for."_

"_I can see that. There was a time when I wanted to be the one in your place, but I would never have been enough for her. She's changed Paul. Bella is strong now."_

"_That she is."_

"_Does she ever say anything about me?" _he asked hopefully.

"_Not really,"_ I replied.I didn't want to be harsh, but it was the truth. Jacob needed to get his head out of la-la land and concentrate on his own imprint instead of mine_._

"_Oh. So where is she today?"_

"_She's at Crispy's house. She didn't want to make you or Angela feel uncomfortable in any way."_

"_She didn't have to do that. I don't feel uncomfortable when I'm around her."_

"_Trust me, it's better this way."_

"_Paul?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"I'm glad you're alpha. I hated being alpha. It sucked the life right out of me. I preferred it when I was just following Sam's orders, but I did it because Angela insisted that I take over because it was my birthright and all."

We talked about family and work the rest of the way there. One thing was for certain, Jacob loved his kids with a passion. He worked hard to provide a decent life for them. When we were about a block away from Quil's house, the engine on my truck seized up and completely puttered out.

"_What the hell? This truck's only three years old!"_ I ranted.

"_Pop the hood, and help me out of the truck, I'll take a look at it for you."_

"_Looks like your serpentine belt snapped. Have you been getting the truck maintained regularly."_

"_Um, half and half,"_ I mumbled.

"_How far do Quil and Rachel live from here?"_

"_About a block away."_

"_Alright, then you can probably push the truck while I steer, and when we get there, I'll send you out to the store for parts, then I'll replace it for you."_

"_Jake, you don't have to do that. You're injured. I can just have it towed and have my mechanic take a look at it on Monday"_

"_Meh, no big deal. It'll keep me busy."_

"_Nah, Jake, I'll just..."_

"_Let me just do this for you, man. Let me just do this one thing because I was a fucking asshole to you and Bella, and I need to make it up to you somehow. You're letting me off way too easy. I tried to attack two imprints when it was my imprint that riled them up in the first place. I'm good with cars, you know that. I'm a certified mechanic too, I own my own shop."_

Damn it, he was tugging at my heartstrings. He really felt bad, it seemed.

"_Sure, Jacob. Thank you,"_ I said.

By dinnertime, Jacob had repaired my vehicle, and Quil had even given it an oil change. Rachel asked me to stay for dinner, so I did. Number Six kept asking for Aunty Bella so I told him that she was having dinner at Uncle Crispy's house.

"_Aw, man! Aunty Babs cooks way better than Mom does. She doesn't force chicken salad on us either."_

It was strange how Crispy's pack had all become aunties and uncles to the kids in our pack. Manny and Barry were the only one with kids in his pack. Crispy, Jeff, and Randy were still childless like me and Embry, too. We were all focused on our careers still.

Speaking of careers, I was up shit creek. Grant had just come in and given me his two week notice when I needed him the most. He had just been hired as assistant district attorney for Tempe, Arizona. I needed a lawyer quickly and one that knew his stuff, too. I had a meeting in Washington in three weeks with the Senate Finance Committee regarding the highway restoration project spanning from Arizona to the Oklahoma border. Baklund fucked up royally when he had another tunnel collapse in Oklahoma. Oklahoma was bound to Baklund still, but New Mexico, and Texas completely jumped on board with me. Texas actually withdrew their pending contract with Baklund and decided to go with my company. I had a spotless record and I planned to keep it that way.

I decided to give Crispy a buzz and see if he knew anyone. He told me to order lunch into my office and we'd mull it over. Lunch was just delivered, and I was just waiting on him now.

"_Mr. Hodges is here to see you, Mr. Lahote,"_ my secretary chimed in over the intercom.

"You can show him in, Lorna."

"How's it going, Paul?" Crispy asked, as he walked in. Lorna closed the door behind her.

"Good, good," I replied, shaking his hand.

"So, you need a full-time in-house counsel on staff?"

"Yeah, and I need one in two weeks, minimum."

"How much are you offering?"

"Two hundred and up plus bonuses, depending on years of experience."

"He nodded his head. I've got a colleague's resume for you. Have a look at it." Crispy handed a resume and cover letter over to me.

"Geez, that was quick," I said, scanning the letter and resume.

"Are you kidding? When I told this guy that the illustrious Paul Lahote was looking for an attorney for his staff, he started salivating at the mouth."

"Too bad he's under-qualified." I smirked at him.

"Under-qualified? What the hell do you mean by that? This guy is top notch!"

"Three hundred fifty plus bonuses. That's fifty more than what Grant's making right now. When can you start?"

"Two weeks, but I'll work with Grant when I can so he can fill me in on the meeting with the Senate Transportation Committee."

"Welcome aboard, Mr. Hodges."

"Glad to be of service, Great Spirit Warrior," he smirked. "By the way, there was no way in hell I was recommending anyone, but myself for this job."

"Hey, I was gonna ask you, but I thought you were happy at the DOE."

"Paul, they pay a hundred and twenty grand a year for long hours and monotonous work. I was ready for a change. Do you realize that Babs is making more than I am?"

"Nope, Bella just hit a hundred grand, but she has a couple of years less experience and she refuses to be tied down to a hospital. I'm not worried about how much she gets paid anyway. I'm happy as long as she's happy."

"That's how I feel, but Babs likes the fast pace at Children's Hospital."

"So, she should keep working there, then."

After lunch, I sent Crispy down to human resources so he could get the new hire bullshit out of the way. I felt like a ton of bricks was lifted off of my shoulders. Crispy was perfect for the job. Not only did he have ten years of experience, he ran in the same circles as me so he was well known by the politicians that I had to deal with. On top of that, many of my contracts were with the Department of Education so his connections there were deep. That's why I decided to pay him more than I was paying Grant.

At around eight pm, I finally arrived home. Bella was tuckered out in bed already. With the Jake and Angela fiasco, our weekend of rest and relaxation had turned into one of chaos, surprises, and a living room and kitchen in need of a total overhaul. We were both exhausted. I crawled under the blankets with her, pulled her into my arms, and soon found myself closing my eyes and falling into a deep, peaceful slumber. Hopefully, next weekend will be more peaceful.

**So, how do you feel about Jake now? What about Angela? And what of the pack combining to run as one? Do you like that Crispy is Paul's new beta? Do you like how he's Paul's new attorney? Let me know your thoughts and I'll write back to you. Happy Holidays! XOXO mama4dukes**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you for your patience in waiting for this chapter. I truly needed to recharge my brain and spend some R & R time with the family before I could focus on writing. And with that, I give you a look into Jacob's mind now.**

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Jacob's POV**

Guilt. Lust. Guilt. Anger. Guilt. Envy. Guilt. Love. Guilt. These were the emotions that I was feeling as I sat in my sister's house thinking about everything that went on this weekend. I felt guilty for still feeling lust towards Bella. I felt guilty for being angry at Bella for loving Paul. I felt guilty for being envious of Paul for all that he's achieved. I felt guilty for still being in love with Bella after all these years. And I felt guilty for feeling all of these emotions when I was the only one at fault.

Bella deserved happiness. She truly did and she got her happiness with Paul. I just wished it was me in his place. It's not that I don't love Angela because I do, but Bella has always held a place in my heart and she always will. But now I know, she was never meant for me. She was always meant for Paul. And Angela was destined for me.

Angela. My imprint. The one that Taha Aki blessed me with. She put up with so much crap from me in our fourteen years together. I know that the beginning was particularly tough for her because I found it difficult to break off my relationship with Bella. I couldn't see just Angela like the others in the pack saw their imprints. I was like Sam was with Emily. The wolf and the man were warring with each other. The wolf wanted Angela, the man wanted Bella. So the wolf mated with Angela while the man dated Bella. The worst part about it is, the wolf won when Angela became pregnant. And I knew then that I had to let Bella go. I was planning on breaking up with her after the prom, but my worst nightmare happened when Bella caught me and Angela having sex in my room.

I remember that day like it was yesterday. _"How could you?" _Bella asked. _ "Both of you? I thought you were my friend, Angela? And Jake...how...why?"_

"_Jake imprinted on me," _Angela told her.

"_Then why didn't you tell me? Why? I would have understood." _Bella was hysterical.

And because my life decided to go to hell in a hand-basket that day, my father wheeled into the room at that moment. When I tried to go to Bella, he grabbed her and pulled her sobbing form onto his lap. _"Get the hell out of here! Both of you!"_ he yelled while he attempted to calm down a crying Bella.

Angela and I got dressed quickly and ran out of the house. I drove her home and that's when she asked if I'd take her to the prom. Since I had already rented a tux and Bella was obviously not going, I agreed. Because I was a coward and didn't want to face my father, I snuck into Angela's room that night and stayed there.

The next day, we went to the tuxedo rental shop to pick up my tux and we showed up at the prom together. What neither of us were expecting was for Bella to show up with her head held up high. We were shunned by every single kid at the senior prom who chose to make sure that Bella had a good time. Even Lauren Mallory—the whore of Forks, shook her head disapprovingly at us and was kind to Bella at the prom. Angela was visibly upset. She just wanted to have a good time and show me off to her friends, but her friends all turned their backs on her.

After the prom, I stayed overnight at her place. Then, it was time for me to patrol in the morning. I met the pack at the rendezvous point in human form so we could have our meeting, I was met with a fist to my jaw from Paul Lahote.

"_I don't like the leech lover, but she didn't deserve the shit you and your bitch imprint just pulled!"_ he yelled. _ "You're worse than the leech that abandoned her!"_

"_You should have told her!"_ Jared yelled. _"Why didn't you tell her? We told you to tell her about the imprint immediately. Why string her along?"_

That's when I saw that I was completely surrounded by the pack. Brady and Collin weren't there because they were ordered to stay at home, but everyone else was there and they were there for a reason. They were there to kick the shit out of me and they did. I took the worst beating from Paul and Sam.

Paul had a conscience. He hated Bella back then, but he said that he would never hurt a girl the way that I did no matter who she was. And Sam? He genuinely liked Bella and so did Emily. He made sure that I felt pain, lots of it because I made Bella and Emily both cry and he didn't like it one bit when they cried. But that wasn't even the worst of it, Embry and Quil turned their backs on me that day. They told me that they couldn't be friends with a selfish prat like me. It was absolutely horrific. Those two really liked Bella and they couldn't find it in their hearts to forgive me or Angela.

It was a few days after the prom that Paul, of all people, finally caught up with the redheaded leech that was after Bella. For some reason, he had been hellbent and obsessed with destroying her. His wish came true when she came onto our lands one day while he was heading back from patrol. He was downwind and she didn't detect his presence. Paul shredded her apart into tiny bits and pieces. He took out every bit of aggression that he had on her, then he turned her into ash. It pissed me off, I wanted to be the one to take out Victoria for Bella's sake. Maybe then she'd talk to me.

Angela's high school graduation day was the absolute worst for me. I was surprised that my father, Sam, Emily, Embry, Quil, and my sister, Rachel—his new imprint, had shown up with flowers and gifts. We thought that they were there to make amends so Angela approached them happily. It turned out that they were there for Bella. Even if she avoided the pack like the plague, they were there to send a message to her that she was still their friend. Charlie Swan took everyone out to a nice dinner that afternoon. Bella left the area for good that evening. She was gone forever and the man, Jacob Black, had his heart shattered forever and her best friend, Emily, cried. She cried for a week straight and Sam made it a point to show me the reason for his imprint's sorrow and how much he blamed me for her state.

Charlie Swan started dating Sue Clearwater. He inadvertently found out about the pack when Collin got into an argument with Seth and they both phased while Charlie was washing Sue's car in the back. He demanded an explanation and as soon as he found out what really went down between Bella, Angela, and me; he became enraged and stopped talking to both me and Angela. He finally understood why Bella had written off La Push and the pack. Her heart was too broken to see or speak with any of us. So, he made it a point to visit her in Jacksonville twice a year. He invited her to his wedding to Sue, but she declined the invitation and didn't bother with meeting Sue. She was too close to the situation in La Push. Out of respect for Bella, he didn't discuss her, even to my father who cared about her more than Angela.

Years went by. I took over the position of alpha at Angela's insistence even if we had stopped phasing. I had one loyal friend, Collin Littlesea. I made him my beta. He and I opened up our own shop and started making decent money. We were proud of ourselves. I was so concerned about myself, Angela, and our kids that I didn't even think to look into the lives of my fellow pack members. Paul had left the reservation for college. He was supposed to return to the reservation after he graduated, but never did. I didn't know where he was living or what he had been up to. I wasn't too concerned though, if worse came to worse, I'd be able to give him an alpha order to return.

Then, in January, we ran into a happy Paul and Bella at Disneyland. My mind started racing with possibilities as to how they could have hooked up. I knew that only one thing would force those two together—imprinting. My suspicions were confirmed when Paul stood in front of her protectively after I growled at Bella for insulting Angela.

I became angry. Paul had taken the girl that Jacob Black, the man, wanted. It simply wasn't fair. When we returned to the motel, Angela called the elders immediately. She suspected that Paul imprinted on Bella and didn't think it was right that the tribe wasn't informed and she wasn't subjected to any sort of formal imprinting ceremony like everyone else. And everything went downhill from there and led us to where we are today.

I couldn't blame the pack for hightailing it out of La Push. After Bella spelled it out for me, I understood where they were coming from. I felt bad for the kids, especially. They shouldn't have to go through life impoverished and I realized that I had failed miserably as alpha. Now, I know why I was never meant to be alpha.

Angela returned to La Push angry that I was no longer alpha. She accepted Paul's new position as alpha because she had no choice but to do so. She wanted to sue Bella for punching her, but I reminded her that if she hadn't hit Kim, Bella wouldn't have stepped in. After that, she wanted to sue Paul for the injuries that I received. I had to remind her that he and his friends were only operating under pack rules of keeping imprints safe and that no one attacked her. I told her that Brady was correct when he said that by all rights, I should be dead and buried underground.

Then the two of us talked and she let her true feelings be known to me. She asked me why I couldn't shake Bella out of my system. I told her that Bella was out of my system, but I just felt incredibly guilty for the way I treated her. I told her that I was selfish in high school and that I should have ended my relationship with Bella before jumping into the sack with Angela. I just couldn't tell her how incredibly jealous I was of Paul. I accepted it, of course, I had no choice. I decided to make it a point to at least be Bella's friend while I was staying at their house, but Paul didn't want me anywhere near Bella. I was sent to my sister's house on the pretense that it would be more convenient for Dr. Kayani to keep an eye on me. I couldn't blame him, though; if the roles were reversed, I would have done the exact same thing.

Angela and I talked through the night about the feelings that she admitted to me during her rant. I told her that if she wanted to go to college, I would support her. That seemed to make her happy. I showered her with affection until she had to leave and I reminded her that she wasn't to mention any of this to Tony Fuller or Old Quil. She agreed that it was an alpha order and that she would abide by Paul's warning. The one good thing about Angela was that she trusted in the sanctity of the pack. In the afternoon, Angela left happily after she found out that I would be staying at Rachel's house. She was even happier that Bella stayed away. Paul told us that Bella was at a friend's house until we both left because she didn't want Angela to feel uncomfortable. Angela actually asked Paul to thank Bella for being graceful to which Paul replied with a shrug of his shoulders. I could tell that he wanted to throttle my imprint. Rachel drove Angela, Leah, and Seth to the airport while Paul drove me to Rachel's and this is where I was today.

It was Tuesday morning and I was bored stiff. Quil and Rachel both worked and their kids went to school. Yesterday, I tried calling Bella, but she told me that she'd get fired from her job if I kept calling her. I decided to text message her instead, but she replied by saying that she was really busy and that she wouldn't be able to reply back to me. I told her that it was okay. I just wanted someone to talk to. I watched TV and kept her abreast of all of the shows. I figured that it was a non-threatening way to restart our friendship.

**Paul's POV**

I returned home from work and Bella had a frustrated expression on her face.

"Did Jake text you all day again?"

"Yes! Oh my God, Paul. Read these! I didn't even know that half of these shows were on TV. What the hell is his problem?"

I ran through the text messages and he had sent her a play by play of some TV shows that he had been watching. What the hell is Glee?

"I imagine he's bored and he wants to restart his friendship with you."

"Shouldn't he be texting Angela?"

"Well, would you text message her?"

"You have a point there."

"Bella?" I noticed that her left hand was wrapped in a bandage. "What the hell happened to your hand?"

"Long story. I'll tell you over dinner after we figure out what we're going to do for dinner. And when the hell am I going to have a living room and kitchen again?"

"Embry's coming to the appliance store with us tonight. Supposedly there's some sort of indoor grill that he wants us to install."

"Paul, this is my kitchen...well...except for your coffee bar."

"I told him that. He swears that you'll fall in love with it."

"Fine, let's go and take a look. I stopped by at the flooring store and picked up some samples. I left them on our lone, surviving end table. Tell me which one you like?" I looked through the samples and held up the Brazilian koa wood flooring. "That's the one I like. I thought that the Hawaiian koa wood was too dark. It's pricey, though."

"Don't worry, I can get an industry discount. I think it would look seamless if we redid the flooring from the living room through the kitchen."

"I was going to talk to you about that. Um, what if we did the whole house in Brazilian koa wood? I mean, upstairs and downstairs? I'm not a huge fan of carpeting. And...erm...I might have damaged the carpeting in our room."

"How?"

"It's possible that I was trying to unjam the closet door and I sliced the carpet with a kitchen knife."

"I don't even want to know what the hell you were doing trying to repair the closet door with a kitchen knife. Scratch that, tell me." My wife had absolutely no common sense when it came to repairs. Wait a second, there was nothing wrong with our closet door this morning!

I walked upstairs with Bella and she proceeded to tell me how she was sorting through our clothes and one of by belt buckles got caught inside a hanger and somehow managed to get jammed between the closet door and the carpet joiner. She tried to get it loose, but it was jammed in there so she grabbed a knife from the kitchen and tried to extract it out and wound up slicing through the belt, the carpet, and her hand.

"Geez, Bella, couldn't you just wait for me to get home?"

"Probably."

"Well, is your hand okay?"

"It is now. I went to Randy's office and he stitched it up for me."

She showed me her hand then showed me the damage to the carpet. Not only was it sliced, it was covered in drops of blood too. I assessed the situation.

"Bella! All you had to do was unhook the hanger from the door handle of the closet."

"I knew I should have just waited for you to come home."

"Yeah, you should have," I laughed. She could be a complete and utter ditz sometimes. "Well, come on, klutzy. Let's go and meet Embry at the appliance store. Oh, and I'm paying Brady, Jared, Sam, and Manny to do the renovation. They could use the extra income and we know that they're trustworthy."

"Good idea. How long do you think the renovations will take?"

"A couple of weeks."

"I swear, I'm going to beat the shit out of Jacob Black for phasing in my house."

"That's exactly how I feel. Anyway, I have a couple of design plans with me from my architect friend so we'll go through them together. We might as well change up the design a bit, there are a couple of bits that I don't like."

"Sounds good. I need more storage space in the kitchen." Bella grimaced in pain, "Ooh, my hand hurts."

"Next time wait for me," I said, picking up her bandaged hand and kissing it. "What the heck were you doing with the clothes anyway?"

"Oh, I was going to go through everything and see what we need to keep and what we need to donate. I'll do it tomorrow. Randy told me to take the day off because he swears that the pain will be worse then. He had to give me twelve stitches. I tried to do it myself, but I couldn't quite keep the needle straight so I drove to his office and had him do it. Do you know that he had the nerve to keep laughing while he stitched me up."

"I don't blame him," I chuckled. "How ridiculous can you be, Bells? You slice your hand with a kitchen knife along with the carpet and my belt then you try to stitch yourself up with one hand? You should have called me so I could drive you to Randy's office instead of doing everything yourself."

"Well, excuse me. I thought you'd be busy."

"I'm never too busy for you, baby." I kissed her on the lips and the two of us descended the stairs to go and meet Embry.

Two hours later, we were sitting at our favorite Italian restaurant with Embry and Jess. Jess was still in a foul mood about Angela and Jacob.

"You know what irks me is that she thinks that you're to blame for everything, Bella. I still remember when Angela and Jake showed up to our senior prom. Do you realize that she went around announcing that Jacob was the love of her life and the father of her child to everyone? I think she was hoping that we'd all congratulate her and fawn all over her or something, but the thing is, we all knew that Jake was picking you up from school everyday until two days before the prom. And we realized what a fucking prick he was and a slut she was. We all felt sorry for you that night, Bella. And we were so proud of you for holding your head up high and showing up to the prom solo."

"Aww, thanks, Jess, but that was so long ago. You didn't even like me back then. Actually, come to think of it, Paul detested me. Embry's always liked me though."

"That's right, I did. And for your information, I think Paul was actually terrified of you back then because you put his ass in his place when you slapped him across the face."

"I was never afraid of you. I was in awe of you. Oh, and by the way, I got the first punch in after Jacob showed his face in La Push again," I informed my wife.

"Aw, that's sweet, honey. You were defending my honor."

"Oh, yeah. We all did."

"I feel honored," Bella chuckled.

"You know, Paul, I'm worried about Angela being in La Push for a week by herself," Jess mentioned.

"Yeah, so am I," Bella agreed. "It's not normal to hold a grudge for so long."

"She won't go against Jake," I assured. "She's desperate to hold onto him. On top of that, Seth and Leah will be watching her like hawks and so will their imprints. Leah will be hanging out at mom and dad's during the day then Seth will take over afterwards. She won't have a moment when she isn't being watched."

"Hey, Bella, maybe you should call her up and give her an alpha's imprint's order," Embry joked.

"Yeah, maybe I should." Bella wagged her eyebrows at us, then put on her best intimidating face which didn't look intimidating at all.

We went home after dinner to discuss the kitchens we perused at the appliance store. Bella hated all of them. Okay, so that was quick, we're back to square one again. We decided to pick up a couple of inexpensive sofas so that we could at least kick back in the living room and relax. Miraculously, our TV had survived. We figured that we could give the sofas to Kim and Jared who were using a beat up set that they brought with them from La Push. Fortunately, our dining table survived the attack so we had a place to eat. Our refrigerator and stove were both decimated and our kitchen island was practically non-existent, but we had the fridge in the garage and the one outside that we could use.

The next day, Bella's hand was throbbing like Randy had predicted so she did, indeed, have to take the day off from work. I found myself in Scottsdale around lunchtime and stopped in at my favorite Mexican restaurant for a bite to eat when I ran into Randy and Jeff.

"Paul, come and join us," Randy invited me kindly.

"Thanks, guys," I said as I joined them.

"We must all be thinking on the same wavelength. I just ran into Jeff, here, a minute before you walked in."

"They have some really good grub here."

After the three of us placed our orders, Randy asked, "How's Bella's hand?"

"She was groaning in pain this morning," I said.

"What happened to her hand?" a confused Jeff asked so I explained to him what she did.

"And the sad part is that all she had to do was unhook the hanger from the door handle and the belt would have just slid out," I concluded.

"Do you realize that she showed up at my office, still in her scrubs with a surgical needle and suture thread sticking out of her hand? She casually walked up to me while I was talking to one of my nurses and said, 'Randy, can you fix this?' She tries to take too much upon herself."

"Yeah, I know. And she can't fix anything so she shouldn't bother trying."

"Sounds like you, Randy," Jeff chuckled then turned to me. "He was doing some minor roof repair last year and the whole thing caved in taking him with it. Thank God he's a shifter or he could have died."

"What the hell were you trying to do to your roof?" I asked.

"I was trying to repair a couple of loose shingles and figured that I should just readjust the rest."

"Yeah, well, his little attempt to readjust the shingles ended up costing him over eighty grand because he ended up having to re-do Mina's entire kitchen."

"Why the hell didn't you call, Manny? A couple of shingles wouldn't have been any problem for him."

"Erm...yep, that's what Mina said, too."

"Don't worry, you're not the worst in home repairs. Jared told me that my father-in-law had the gutters on his house on the res held up with duct tape. He painted over it, too."

"Hey, I'm not that bad."

"Speaking of houses in La Push, Paul. I was looking through some of the files. Maintenance requests number over five hundred in the span of ten years and barely any have been taken care of," Jeff informed me.

"What the hell?"

"There's something fishy about the infrastructure. And here's the thing, Fuller has his nose in almost every department. He's the comptroller. I'm suspecting some serious foul play here; possibly embezzlement. I need to get into the snake's personal finances, but in order to do that legally I have to produce massive amounts of evidence from the tribal government. I've got two people in my office dedicated to preparing it now, but we have paperwork spanning over ten years so it's going to take time. I'm toying with the idea of shutting the government down again because I can't just pull Fuller from his job, but that would put some innocent people out of work and I don't want to do that if I can avoid it."

"Geez, Jeff, every time I talk to you, you give me more bad news about the tribe."

"Hey, I'm just telling you as I unearth the info. And now that we're one pack, this shit's become personal for me."

I was about to respond when my cell phone buzzed. It was Leah.

"What's up, sweetheart?"

"_Who's with you?"_

"Um, Randy and Jeff. Why?"

"_Any chance that you three can phase sometime within the next hour?"_

I looked up at the two of them, they nodded that they could. "Give us about a half an hour. We just got our food. Do you need anyone else to phase?"

"_No, just the three of you should be fine. You can relay the message to the rest of the pack. I'm going to have mom watch Izzy for me. See you in thirty."_

"Okay."

"Do you think she found something?" Jeff asked, hopefully.

"Yeah, I do. Leah wouldn't call us unless it was important. Let's hurry up and eat so we can go and phase."

The three of us scarfed down our food in five minutes flat. This was the plus side of being shapeshifters. We could eat at an inhuman speed if we needed to. And we absolutely needed to. We decided to head to Randy's house since it was the closest and his backyard was completely walled off.

I sent a text message to Leah who said that she was ready when we were. A minute later, all four of us were in each other's minds.

"_What's up, Leah?" _I asked.

"_I got the book written by the shaman from Taha Aki's time. They're actually scrolls, but it looks like someone from the previous pack had them bound into a book. I actually stole it from the archives. I had to hide it underneath my shirt and I was engorged so I spilled some breast milk on it."_

Leah showed us the image of her sneaking the book out.

"_Leah, we know more about breastfeeding than any guy should know. Bear in mind that the three of us don't have kids yet."_

"_Your wives will appreciate it when you eventually do have children. Can I just say something? This is the first time that I've been phasing while nursing and I seem to produce three times the amount of breast milk than with my previous three kids. I mean, Izzy is ten months old and my milk is gushing out and it won't stop either."_

"_I'll look into the situation for you, Leah,"_ Randy said. _"Your anatomy changes when you shift. It becomes closer to your animal form. It also might have something to do with your diet. Call me tomorrow night and we can discuss it, okay?"_

"_Great, thank you. It sure is nice to have a doctor who's a shape shifter in our pack."_

"_Can we get back to business now? I have to go back to the office," _Jeff said.

"_Oh, right, sorry. I overheard Collin and Linda arguing."_

"_Who are Collin and Linda again?"_ Randy asked.

"_Collin was Jacob's beta and Linda's his wife. Don't worry, she doesn't act all high and mighty like Angela does,"_ Leah explained. _"Anyway, they were arguing last night in front of their house and she was complaining about Fuller and how he always orders Jake and Collin around. I was at mom's house so I could hear them loud and clear."_ She showed us the memory of the two of them arguing.

"_He leads the two of you around on a leash and you two pretty much nod your heads with your tongues __hanging out and do his bidding. You might as well lick his asshole already! He's creepy, Collin, and he's using you and Jake both to do his dirty work and you just can't see it. You're a wolf! You're __stronger than he is. The creep hasn't done a thing for us or any of the pack, you need to start thinking for yourself instead of kowtowing to this fucker. Sure he's an elder, but so are Sue, Josh, Old Quil, and Billy. And another thing! Why do we always have to go on vacations with Jake and Angela? Why can't we ever do something on our own with just our family? I'm sick of Angela trying to order me around. Ugh!"_ Linda screamed in frustration.

"_Linda, Angela is our alpha's imprint. You have to respect her."_

"_I don't see why I have to when no one else respects the bitch. She thinks she's the First Lady or something. I mean, come on, she went out and purchased a freaking Volvo and Jake's going crazy trying to keep up with the payments and save for college for the kids. What the hell does she need a freaking Volvo in La Push for?"_

"_I won't hear you lambasting the alpha's imprint. Taha Aki will probably rain hell down on us for even having this discussion."_

"_Um, Collin, I know you're all into the archives and legends and stuff, but there's nothing in there that states that the alpha's imprint has to drive a freaking Volvo! She's supposed to be thinking about pack welfare. Emily used to cook and take care of the pack. When the hell has Angela ever done that?"_

"_Linda, you have to admit that the other imprints didn't make it easier for her because of the situation with the leech lover."_

"_Isabella Swan Lahote is now a married imprint and you need to respect her just like pack law state. Besides, by all accounts Jake and Angela were the ones that fucked her over! She went out of her way to help Leah deliver her baby when she didn't have to. It seems to me that she's a nice lady and, you know what, I want to meet her!"_

"_Well, you will once Jacob brings the pack back to La Push, but don't get too close to her. It'll hurt our alpha and his imprint's feelings."_

"_Get the fuck over it, Collin! I'm through bowing down to them. Oh, and go and stay at your parents' house tonight because there's no way in hell I'm letting you into our house until you man the fuck up and get your head out of Jake's ass!"_

Leah's replay of the memory ended right there. _"So, that was it, there's trouble in paradise with the Littleseas and it appears that Linda is the only one with her head screwed on tight. I'm going to work on Linda a bit and get her on my good side."_

"_How the hell do you plan on doing that?"_

"_I'm going to invite to the Pampered Chef party at my house on Thursday night."_

"_You're going to have a Pampered Chef party?" Jeff and Randy asked in shock, amazement, and utter bewilderment. I had no idea what the heck that was._

"_Yes, and your wives already know about it. They're placing orders using my hostess number online for me."_

"_You never cease to amaze me, Leah," _Jeff said.

"_Yeah, I know, I'm a woman of many talents. I can claw apart a vampire, come home and nurse my baby, then put on a pretty dress and host a party for the housewives of Forks and La Push. By the way, Paul, your in-laws want you to come home for a visit over Thanksgiving or Christmas."_

"_I'll see what I can do. Keep us informed about the whole situation with Linda, okay?"_

"_I will and I've already expressed the book out to you today. You should receive it sometime tomorrow."_

"_Thanks, Leah."_

"_No problem. Randy, make sure you look into the whole breastfeeding thing for me. I feel like a milk fountain. It's getting to be really uncomfortable."_

"_I'll do that right away."_

"_Thank you."_

With that, we all phased back to our human forms and rushed back to our jobs. We agreed to discuss the situation later in the week after I received the book written by the shaman.

I returned to my office and a bored Bella was inside waiting for me. "What are you doing here? You should be at home resting."

"I know that, but I got bored. I thought I'd start planning out this year's holiday party."

"Good idea. We're using Mina and Penny's catering company, right?"

"Right."

"I'm glad you're here. You can make yourself useful."

"I can?"

"Yes," I smirked, locking the door and pulling her into my arms for a kiss. She responded immediately. The sweet perfume of her arousal permeating the air and making my cock as hard as diamonds. Speaking of diamonds, I should

I flipped her skirt up, pulled her panties off, bent her over my desk and plunged my cock straight into her. My cock was so happy to be back in it's familiar home. I've been itching to make love to her ever since the whole Jacob and Angela fiasco happened, but we've been either too busy or too tired to do so.

"Oh, Paul," she moaned.

"Shh...baby...we're in my office. You need to stay silent," I whispered into her ear as I pounded into her pussy relentlessly with my hand clasped over her mouth. I moved one hand down to her clit and started stroking it. She was squirming beneath me while I quickened my movements. I know that she wanted to scream, but she couldn't. My secretary was sitting right outside my office.

Her walls were slick as my cock grazed against them. I continued to play with her clitoris, knowing that it drove her wild. She started meeting each of my thrusts by grinding herself onto my cock. Each time I hit her core, it sent me into a frenzy. I was absolutely insane with passion and lust for my wife. Sweat was pouring down our bodies. My shirt was drenched. I should have taken my tie off or at least loosened my collar before starting this. I didn't care. Nothing beats a bit of afternoon nookie with the love of my life.

I pounded into my mate relentlessly. She bit down on my hand to avoid screaming out. She was close, oh so close, I knew her body so well. Two more thrusts and she was there; exploding all over my cock and milking me completely dry. I sunk my teeth into her neck and marked her to avoid screaming her name out load. She hissed at the pain and moaned in pleasure as my scent started infusing with hers. She collapsed onto the desk completely spent. I picked her up and carried her to the sofa in my office, holding her, kissing her, stroking her hair, and telling her how much I love her.

After a few minutes, I had to get back to work. I took my shirt off and handed it to Bella to take to the dry cleaners along with a couple of other work shirts that needed to go and changed into a fresh one from my closet.

"Honey, I think the tie has to go too. You have enchilada sauce on it. Did you have Mexican for lunch?"

"Yeah, I did, I ran into Randy and Jeff there. We received a call from Leah midway through lunch and had to phase. I'll tell you more about it later."

"Okay. Well, what's my budget for the employee Christmas party?"

"I don't know, talk to Lorna. Whatever it was last year is fine. Oh, and I want to include fifty dollar gift cards to Safeway with everyone's paychecks the week before Thanksgiving again. That went over well last year. And don't forget to help Lorna pick out the company Christmas card. I guess we have to be politically correct and put Happy Holidays on the damn thing."

"I know, it totally stinks. How late are you working tonight?"

"I don't know, it depends on how much work I can get done on my proposal to the senate finance committee. Go ahead and have dinner without me. Speaking of which, can you pick up a couple of new suits for me for the trip?"

"Yes, absolutely. Anything else?"

"Just a kiss from you and I should be able to get through the rest of the day." She gave me a long, wet, searing kiss.

"Okay, I'm going to work with Lorna for a bit on the holiday stuff then I'm heading to Mina and Penny's catering shop to talk to them, after that I'll grab your suits."

"How's your hand, baby?"

"It hurts, but, oh well, it was my fault. I'll live."

I kissed her on the lips again before she left to talk to Lorna. I hated to admit it, but I preferred having Bella at home helping me with all of the extra stuff that came with running my own company. She's been a trooper though. She's come through each and every time I've asked her for help and she does a great job too. Lorna, my secretary, adores her. She hated Tina, but then again, Tina, treated Lorna as if she were dirt because of her job. And Tina was never concerned with the bottom line like Bella always is.

An hour after Bella left, I received a call from Tom Uley stating that one of the cranes broke down in the middle of a job. I grabbed my hard hat and headed to the site.

"We've been having a ton of trouble with this one, Paul. I don't know why. The rest of them are fine. Sam's driving a new one in from his site, but I think we need to scrap this one or we're going to be up shit creek when the highway project starts. At least this is a simple skyscraper going up. I mean, I started here in July and it's broken down three times already."

"I agree with you. How's the construction coming? Do you need more guys?"

"Good, I've got Jared working on inspecting the beams again. If you have time, it would be great if you could give me your okay so we could get started on the next step."

"I can do that for you. Let's get the broken down crane out of here then."

"We can't until the new one arrives, it's still carrying a beam."

I looked up and realized that he was right.

"Good point. I'll go and inspect the beams. Radio me when Sam gets here with the other crane."

I went to do a quick inspection of the beams that were already up.

"You smell like Bella," Jared was quick to point out.

"Keep your mind on the job, Cameron," I smirked.

"Yeah, you do the same. Did she visit you in the office?"

"Yeah, she was bored since she's being forced to stay at home because of her hand."

"What happened to her hand?"

So, I told Jared about the belt and the hanger. "You're fucking with me? No, wait, this is Bella we're talking about, there's no way you're lying. Okay, I think these beams are good. Tell me what you think?"

"Alright, do a quick walk around with me."

Just as I finished with the walk around, Tom radioed me to inform me that Sam had arrived along with Brady with the crane from their site. Manny had driven in a cherry picker from his site. We would need to use both pieces of equipment in order to manually release the hold the broken crane had on the steel beam. I went out to meet them along with Jared.

"Hey, boss, nice new cologne. Smells like Bella," Manny smirked.

"Man, I can't wait until we phase next," Brady commented. "I want to know what happened to get you reeking like her on a Wednesday afternoon."

"Guys, we have an issue with the crane here," I chastised. "Let's keep our minds on the job."

"Not an easy thing when you smell like pure Bella sex. You know she smells mouthwatering enough as it is, it's very distracting. It makes me want to go home and make love to Emily. It smells like she's right here."

"Alright, I admit it. I got my freak on with Bella in my office." I figured they were going to see it in my mind once we phased.

My cell phone rang just then so I reached into my pants pocket to grab my cell. Something fell out onto the ground with it. As I took the call, I was mortified, Bella's black lace thong had fallen on the ground. Brady picked it up, wagged his eyebrows at me, and waved it in front of my eyes. I snatched it from him and shoved it back into my pocket. Aw...shit, I just thought of something: my wife is running around Phoenix with no panties on under her skirt. Meh, easier access for me later. I ended the call quickly and turned to the guys who were all smirking at me. Thank God this happened in front of the pack.

"Well, hell, now we know why it smelled like she was right here," Sam commented.

"Fine, whatever...take care of the issue with the beam. Sam, call acquisitions and tell them that I want the manufacturer to take this crane back and issue us a new one at no cost to us. This crane's given us more headaches than any we've ever owned. The goddamned thing is defective. Oh, and we're having a pack meeting one night this week in wolf form. I just got a call from Leah."

"Yes, boss!" all four of them saluted me as I got into my truck to leave.

I headed back to work and ran into Quil after I parked my truck. "I'm going to fucking take Jacob's neck and twist until his head snaps off. The little shit doesn't understand that I have commitments after work. For God's sake, Number Six has football practice tonight, Chris has Cub Scouts, and Crystal has Brownies. Meanwhile, Jake wants to kick back and have some beers and I just don't have time."

"So, drop him off with Chris at the Cub Scouts. It'll teach him some humility."

"Good idea, Rachel's taking Crystal to the Brownies and I think Number Six would like it if I watched him at football practice for once. They're building birdhouses at the Cub Scouts anyway. It's right up Jake's alley."

"Birdhouses?"

"Yeah, he belongs in one," Quil mumbled. "Listen, I dropped off the plans for the I-40 in New Mexico. Have a look at them when you have time. Oh, and Embry cancelled the contract with the company supplying the wire because they were trying to jack up the price of the copper wiring. We know that the price of copper is skyrocketing, but this company was trying to jack it up by three hundred percent stating that Baklund was paying them that amount. We're looking into two companies, one out of Tokyo that has a spotless record. They're willing to fly a representative in with some samples in next week. Would you be free to meet with them?"

"I'll make time. I want reps from both companies in by next Wednesday with samples so we can make a decision by Friday. We need firm figures before I fly in to meet with the Senate Finance Committee in two and a half weeks. I also want a contract with whatever company we choose that states that they cannot renegotiate the price during the duration of the project. Also, if their wiring fails, it's on them, not on us and this shit needs to be in writing. Have either Grant or Crispy write up a contract after you make the decision. I want one of them at the meeting."

"Got it, we'll get it done."

"Good call on canceling the contract with the other company. Speaking of which, I need a list of all of Baklund's suppliers. His tunnels have been collapsing left and right and it could have something to do with his suppliers. Where's Embry?"

"He's in Tucson doing a final walk through on the new headquarters for that insurance company."

"Oh, that's right. Um, meeting sometime this week with the pack. We got a call from Leah today."

"Do I tell Jake?"

"That's a big no."

Quil nodded his head in understanding, then sniffed the air. "Did you have a nice afternoon with Bella?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Hey, I'm jealous. Rachel refuses to get it on while her little brother is in the house. God, I can't wait for him to leave."

"I feel for you, man." I patted him on the shoulder and walked back into my office where I found Crispy typing away on his laptop at my desk. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"I'm done with work for the day. I've got good news for you, the DOE was able to hire a guy from within so after this week, I'm all yours. I had five vacation days left so they're letting me take those next week."

"Thank God! I think that's the best news I've had all week."

"Are you sure, Paul? Because I can tell for a fact that you had an exciting afternoon."

You see, this is the negative side of working with shape-shifters. You can't get away with anything because of their heightened senses.

"I mean in business news."

"Oh, well, it's good to see that Bella's keeping you happy," Crispy said. "Anyway, I've got a question for you. Grant's taking his secretary with him when he goes to Tempe. Can I bring mine along? She knows how I like things done."

"Yep, go ahead. I don't mind. I need her resume, references, and drug testing done by the end of the week though."

"No problem there, my secretary is Jeff's mother. She practically raised me. Plus there's the added benefit of her being the mate and a mother of coyotes herself so she'll be able to cover for us."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot that it's different with you guys. The firstborn son of each generation phases. Do your fathers still phase?"

"They do, but they're their own pack so we could never talk to them. Our dads and granddads are freaking out about the combining of the packs. My dad suggested that we all phase together to see if we could all share a mind. He's bringing the tribal shaman to the meeting.

"Good idea. Leah express mailed the book written by the tribal shaman from Taha Aki's time to me. I should have it in my hands tomorrow."

"That's good because I'm at a complete loss."

"Well, the connection is still holding. I phased earlier this afternoon with Randy and Jeff. Leah called wanting to communicate with us."

"About what?"

"Just some stuff between Collin and Linda. It seems Linda has gone rogue on her mate. She's noticing something fishy about Fuller and she just threw him out of their house until he chooses to grow some balls."

"Oh, wow. She can be a good source of information for us."

"Exactly. Leah's going to work on her this week. She invited her to her Pampered Chef party."

"Somehow I can't picture Leah hosting one of those."

"I don't even know what they are."

"They sell cookware and gourmet foods."

"Huh?"

"Exactly. Babs hosted one of those three years ago. I stayed upstairs the whole time. It's definitely women's stuff."

"Sounds like it."

Crispy and I left the office around nine pm along with Grant. We ordered dinner in and worked straight through and made considerable progress in our presentation to the Senate Finance Committee. I returned home to find Bella looking at some plans for the kitchen. We picked one together then trotted off to bed completely spent. Well, almost spent...having had her scent around me the entire day, I had to make love to her before hitting the sack. All in all, I had to admit, it was a great day for Paul Lahote.

**Now that you've had a peek into Jacob's mind, what do you think? He really needs to grow up, doesn't he? Do you agree with Jess and Bella that Angela isn't trustworthy? And what about our super duper, Pampered Chef hosting, nursing shewolf Leah and the conversation that she overheard between Collin and Linda? Lastly, would you visit Paul in the office if you were bored? I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter particularly your thoughts on Jake's POV. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. XOXO mama4dukes**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you for your awesome reviews everyone! I'm so happy that you're enjoying the story. And we shall begin by attending a Pampered Chef party hosted by the sensational Mrs. Leah Clearwater Yorkie.**

**This story is AU/OOC**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Leah's POV**

It was Thursday evening and I was hosting a Pampered Chef party in my home. I had close to thirty women in my house. I invited everyone from La Push and Forks that I knew including Angela and Linda. Angela had just shown up driving her freaking silver Volvo, wearing four inch heels, and carrying a Louis Vuitton bag as if that would impress anyone around here.

I started off by offering samples that were prepared using some of the cookware. "This is a calzone that I made using the pizza stone," I told the ladies. "It's such a simple recipe. All I did was take some Pillsbury Refrigerated French Bread Dough, rolled it out; stuffed one side with pizza sauce, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese; folded the other side over; sealed it shut, put it in the oven for twenty minutes on the pizza stone and voila!"

"Oh, Leah, this is delicious," Mrs. Newton—the younger one, as in Lauren Mallory Newton, said, "and so simple too."

"It is, isn't it? My kids love this. You can also do a simple ham and cheese one or really stuff it with any ingredients you like."

"How much is the pizza stone?"

"They start at thirty-six dollars and come in many shapes and sizes. I always keep one in my oven. I find that it helps to distribute heat evenly whenever I'm using it."

And just like that, I had over fifteen orders for pizza stones and the night was just beginning.

I made sure that I kept an eye on Angela and Linda. I noticed that Angela was bragging to everyone about some new designer coat that she had purchased while Linda did her best to avoid her. Now, having Angela here was a plus on the business side of things. She liked to show off the fact that she's supposedly fabulously wealthy so she was buying products left and right. We all knew that the bitch didn't cook anything that required more than heating up. She was the queen of take out and frozen meals.

As soon as the party was over, Angela left, stating that she had to get home to the kids. Some of the women helped me clean up after the party, including Linda. I took the opportunity to talk to her.

"How are you, Linda?" I asked.

"Oh, okay. I'm just a little tired, it's been a long week."

"Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah. I just haven't had a break at all. Usually Collin helps with the kids but he's been staying at his parents' house."

"Why? Are you guys on the outs."

"Kind of."

"Hey, you look like you can use a friend. Why don't you stick around after everyone leaves? We can have a glass of wine and chat; have some girl time."

She looked surprised that I even offered. She thought for a minute before she replied, "I'd like that. It would be nice to have a friend."

Twenty minutes later, everyone had left for their homes. Eric was with Dad and the kids hanging out at Seth's house. Mom and Kyla were heading over there now to tell them not to come home for another hour or two.

I poured some wine for Linda and handed the glass to her. "So where are your kids?" I asked.

"Oh, they're at my mom's house. She offered to watch them so I could go to the party."

"It helps having parents nearby, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does. I don't know how everyone is doing it in Arizona."

"They're managing. Between all of them, they trade off and sometimes they even saddle Bella and Jess with the kids."

"But they don't have kids."

"Yes, but they're pack and they understand that sometimes couples need a break."

"Is Bella very nice? I know that Angela doesn't have any nice things to say about her, but everyone else seems to only have nothing but good things to say about her."

"Bella is very kind-hearted, Linda. I think you'd like her. She also has Paul completely tamed. Do you know that he helps with the dishes after dinner and he goes out and grills steaks."

"He cooks?"

"Now he does. Bella does most of the cooking, but apparently the grill is his territory. He always helps with the dishes and housework though. He makes the coffee in the morning too."

"Wow, I don't know Paul very well, but he seems like a decent fellow."

"He is a good guy and he's perfect for Bella too. Now why don't you tell me why you and Collin are on the outs."

"You won't judge me, will you? Because I'm going to be mean to the alpha."

"Linda, have I ever respected Jacob?"

"Good point."

"And you can swear as much as you want. You don't have to be polite in front of me." I filled her wine glass up to the top to loosen her up a bit. She guzzled the whole thing down. I gave her some more. Gee whiz, I'm going to have to have mom drive her home.

"Phew, that's a relief. I hate putting on airs."

"Then, why do you?"

"Alpha's imprint's orders."

"I hate to tell you this, but there's no such thing as an alpha's imprint's order. If there were, the other imprints would have been walking around as mini clones of Angela."

"I didn't know. Angela told me that she made all of the rules for the imprints because she's the alpha's imprint and that's how it's always been. She said that Jacob would come down on Collin if I didn't do whatever she told me to do."

"Well, the bitch lied," I growled.

"I'm glad that I know. Here's my problem, Collin has absolutely no balls whatsoever. He walks around licking Jacob's ass and the two of them plus Angela think that Tony Fuller is the savior of La Push or something. I'm not blind, Leah. Shit's going down on the reservation. Why else would we have a mass exodus of the pack. Think about it? The only pack members that live in La Push are Collin and me and Jake and Angela. Even you and Seth live in Forks. And I don't blame the rest of the pack for moving to Arizona. They were suffering, they were so poor. I saw Brady, Sam, and Jared at the food pantry every week. I volunteer there. I always tried to put in extra food for them because I knew that they were wolves and ate more."

"That was nice of you, I'm sure they appreciated it."

"Yes, but the fact that they had to go to the food pantry at all bothered me. They weren't the only ones there. Kids I went to school with were there too. All of them were there because the economy in La Push is so bad. Anyway, my huge problem is the fact that Tony and Old Quil were trying to force the pack to stay in La Push even with all of the economic problems. I felt so bad for Brady and Missy a year and a half ago when he couldn't leave La Push due to Jacob giving him an alpha order to stay. They could have gotten themselves out of their slump had he taken that job in Tacoma."

"Yeah, they should have been allowed to leave." I poured my wine for Linda.

"I'm also sick of having to do everything with Jacob and Angela. Do you realize that Collin and I have never been on a vacation alone? It's always with Jake and Angela. If we have dinner out, it's always with Jake and Angela. For God's sake, I've spent every wedding anniversary with Collin, Jake, and Angela. It's almost as if Collin can't function without Jake and Angela. That's the main reason why I threw the spineless fucker out of our house."

"I don't blame you one bit. Every couple needs time to themselves." She was beginning to trust me so I decided to take the opportunity to bring up Tony Fuller. "Linda, I'm not so sure if it's just me, but...um...geez...I feel funny asking you this, but have you noticed something odd about Tony Fuller?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I'm so happy that you brought that up. I thought it was just me, but the guy is always lurking around the reservation. And he always has Jake and Collin doing stuff for him."

"What kind of stuff?" I asked, concerned.

"He has them working on his house, running errands, etc. He has his own kids. I don't understand why he doesn't have them helping. Jake and Collin are so stupid that they help him out claiming that he's like an uncle to them. Why the hell is he so busy anyway?"

Why indeed? It was something that I intended to find out.

**Bella's POV**

What an insane week! Jacob finally flew home on a five pm flight. I didn't see him at all, but he kept calling my cell phone wanting to talk because he was bored. When I finally told him that I couldn't be talking to him while at work, he started text messaging me. I now had a play by play of almost episode of NCIS, Burn Notice, and Glee. I don't even have time to watch TV usually.

Our temporary living room set was delivered yesterday so our living room looked halfway decent. Paul and I also went to the appliance store and had a temporary stove and refrigerator installed to replace the broken ones in our kitchen. He said that the stove and refrigerator at my house in Camelback East that we were renting out to Jared and Kim needed updating anyway so we could just swap them out once our kitchen was done. The guys were going to start working on the repairs tomorrow.

It was six pm and I had just pulled into the garage. Paul pulled in a minute after me.

"What do you say we go out to dinner tonight, baby? I don't feel like doing dishes and I'm sure you don't feel like cooking."

"Sounds good to me," I said, relieved.

We finished dinner around eight pm. Afterwards, we caught a movie, and it was around eleven pm when we finally came home. Paul was about to pull into the garage when I noticed someone sleeping on the doorstep. He stopped the car and we both got out to find out what was going on. There was a little boy curled up with an Arizona Diamondbacks Jersey and cap using his backpack as a pillow.

"Jesus Christ, I think that's Jake's son, Will," Paul stated. He picked the boy up gently and brought him into the house. Meanwhile, I pulled the car into the garage. When I got back into the living room, Paul had him sleeping on the living room sofa.

"What do you suppose he's doing here?" I asked.

"No idea, I don't know him very well either. He was just born when I left La Push. I recognized him from the picture he gave to you."

"Should we call Rachel?"

"Not yet, I want to hear his story first. Something obviously made him run and I want to know what it was. Look at his face, he's obviously been roughed up. Kids don't usually run unless they're scared shitless."

"Will...Will," I called gently. His eyes snapped open, and he shuddered in fear, then he calmed down after recognizing us.

He looked into Paul's eyes, then mine and said, "Wow, you're even more like an angel in person."

I chuckled, "Hello, Will. I'm Bella. What brings you to Phoenix?"

"Please don't call my parents! Please, they won't believe me. They never believe me. I don't want to go back."

"Shh...we haven't called your parents yet. What happened?"

"N...N...Nothing."

I heard his stomach growl just then. "Are you hungry, sweetheart?" I asked.

"Yes, the last time I ate was dinner, last night."

"Stay here with Uncle Paul, sweetie. I'll go and cook something."

"You don't have to go to any trouble, I..." he clutched his stomach and moaned in pain. This wasn't a hunger pain, this was something else.

Paul snapped to attention. His eyes full of concern. "Take your shirt off, Will," he ordered gently. "I just want to see where you're hurt."

Warily, Will removed his jersey.

"Oh my God," I whispered with tears in my eyes. My hand snapped to my mouth stifling a scream. I examined his injuries, his body was covered with bruises and the huge one off to the side concerned me deeply. "What happened?"

"Some high school boys tried to make me take drugs. I said no...and I tried to run, but then they beat me up...I didn't want Dad to see me, he'll be so disappointed that I couldn't defend myself."

My husband who had a heart of gold pulled Will into his arms. "I don't think your father would be upset with you. I think he'd be proud that you said no and tried to run. I won't let anyone hurt you, Will."

Will sobbed into Paul's arms. Meanwhile, I called Randy. He was over at our house in ten minutes flat along with Mina.

"I think he may have internal injuries, Randy, but I wanted to get a second opinion," I said. "His name is Will. He's Jacob's son. We found him sleeping on our doorstep."

"Hi, Will. I'm Dr. Kayani. How are you tonight?"

"I'm fine," he replied bravely.

"Doesn't look like it to me. Do you mind telling me what happened?"

Will told his story to Randy. "Hmm...you were very brave. How many boys were there?"

"Three."

"Three? That doesn't sound like a fair fight to me. How big were the boys?"

"They were big, like you and Uncle Paul."

"Do they go to your school?"

"Uh-huh, they're seniors. One of them is Uncle Brady's little brother."

Paul's fists were balled up at this point and he was shaking. I rubbed circles on his back to calm him down. It wouldn't do for him to phase in front of Will.

"Paul, pull it together," Randy whispered to him before turning to Jacob's boy. "Can I take a look at your injuries, Will?" I noticed that Randy was barely keeping it together himself.

Will covered his body up.

"How about if I sit next to you?" I offered. Will nodded his head.

Randy checked him out, then motioned me to the side.

"I suspect he has a slow rupturing spleen. Those boys did a number on him. We need to get him to Phoenix Children's stat. I've got admitting privileges there. He'll probably feel more comfortable if you'd scrub up and hold his hand."

"That's no problem. I've got admitting privileges there, too. Randy, we need to get him there quickly, I think he took a bus from Washington so it's been over twenty-four hours since the injury occurred."

"Why don't we ask him?" Randy went back to Will. "Do you mind telling me how you got here?"

"Well, yesterday, after school, those guys cornered me. After I was able to get up. I went home and had dinner. Then, I told my mom that I was tired and going to bed. She had to go to some kind of party at Aunty Leah's house anyway. I woke up at two o clock in the morning, packed my backpack, took the money hidden in the freezer, and rode my bike all the way to Port Angeles. From there, I took the four thirty bus to Seattle, then I bought a ticket for the eight o' clock bus to Phoenix. I took a taxi from the bus stop to here."

"Why here?" Paul asked.

"Oh, I looked up the address in Dad's book before I left. I knew that no one would hurt me here. Uncle Charlie told me that Aunty Bella wanted to meet me."

What a resourceful kid. I think Paul must have thought so too because he was nodding his head completely impressed.

"Oh, Uncle Charlie was right. I did want to meet you, Will," I told him, making his eyes light up. He reminded me so much of a young Jake.

"Will, here's the thing," Randy said. "We need to take you to the hospital so we could take a look at your injuries under a big machine that can see inside your body. Aunty Bella is going to stay by your side the whole time. Would that be okay with you?"

He nodded his head that it would. Randy cradled Will in his arms and put him gently in his SUV. I hopped in the back with Will. Meanwhile, Paul and Mina got into his truck and followed us. I suspected Paul was placing phone calls because he had Mina drive.

Three hours later, we were out of surgery and Will was stable and in the recovery room. Rachel ran up to hug me.

"Thank you, Bella, Randy," she said. She was completely worried about her nephew. By now it was four am.

"I called Dad," Paul informed me. "I thought he would be the best person to inform Jake and Angela. Charlie, Billy, Jake, and Collin are on their way on a five am flight to Phoenix. They should be here at the hospital before nine am. Angela wanted to come, but Jake told her to stay put. They didn't even know that Will was gone because Angela had gone to pick Jake up at the airport."

Paul then went to Randy and shook his hand, "Thanks, Randy, I owe you one."

"No worries. Bella and I just assisted the surgeon anyway. I'm gonna take Mina home and get some shut eye now. I'll be back in the morning."

At around nine am, there was some shuffling going on in the room. I was sleeping on a cot in the corner of the room. I had sent both Paul and Rachel home, stating that I would be the best to care for Will.

"_Bells. Bells, honey,"_ a man's voice called. I recognized the voice. It was the voice of the man who brought me comfort as a teenager after I was unceremoniously dumped, first by Edward, then by Jacob. I popped open my left eye, then my right, and looked straight at him.

"Hi, Daddy."

"Good morning, baby girl. I heard that you had quite a night."

I stifled a yawn, rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and sat up. "Just an evening full of surprises."

I looked around the room and I saw Jacob, Billy—fast asleep in his wheelchair, and another tall, Native American man who I assumed was Collin.

"Bella?"

"Yeah, Jake?"

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I just...I...thank you."

"Oh, no problem. I'm just glad that Will made it to our house in one piece. He could have bled out, but somehow he managed to get to us. Fortunately, it was a slow rupturing spleen. He's a strong, resourceful young man."

I went to check on Will and brushed his hair out of his eyes. He was still sleeping and would be for a few more hours. I did a quick check of his pulse and everything seemed to be going well.

"Um, I'm Collin Littlesea," the other man extended his hand to me.

"Oh, nice to meet you. I'm Isabella Lahote."

"Thank you for taking care of Will."

"Oh, it was no problem."

I sat down on the cot and tried to stay awake, but I drifted back to sleep again. Around eleven am, I stirred awake to the scent of fresh brewed coffee.

"Hey, baby," Paul greeted and kissed me on the lips. "I brought you some coffee."

"Oh, thank God!"

I took the coffee, gratefully, from him.

"I have to go back and supervise the detention at the high school. I'll see you later in the afternoon."

"Paul, you didn't have to stop by. I'm an ol' pro at this."

"Yeah, I did. I had to see your pretty face." He kissed me on the lips one more time and said to my father, "She's in your hands, Charlie," before he left.

"Any problems during the night, Bella?" Randy asked.

"No, he's been stable. I checked on him every two hours. Have you met everyone yet?"

"Yeah, I've been here for the last hour. I think it's time we woke him up."

"You're probably right. Why don't you do the honors?"

"Um, no. He's more comfortable with you, Bella. You do it."

"Okay," I chuckled, and walked over to Will's bedside. I gently shook him awake.

"You stayed."

"Of course I stayed. I promised you that I would, didn't I? How are you feeling?"

"My belly hurts."

"Oh, it's going to hurt a bit. You've been very brave."

"Hey, kiddo," Jacob greeted his son with a smile.

Will flinched at the sight of him. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. Grandpa is here and so are Uncle Charlie and Uncle Collin. Almost everyone is here, they're all worried about you."

Just then, there was a knock on the door and Barry walked inside dressed in his police uniform. My father stood up immediately and put his police chief mask on.

"Daddy, this is Lieutenant Barry Blackfoot, he's a family friend," I explained.

"Oh, nice to meet you. My name is Charlie Swan."

"Ah, the police chief. Bella speaks highly of you. I'm actually here on official business. Since this boy is a juvenile and crossed state lines, injured, and on his own; I'm going to have to ask him a few questions if you don't mind."

"Just answer Lieutenant Blackfoot's questions honestly, Willy," my father encouraged.

"Can you stay with me, Bella?"

"Willy, everyone is going to have to leave, but Chief Swan can stay—in an official capacity," Barry said.

Will looked terrified, but my dad pulled up a chair right next to him and took his hand, "You'll be fine, son, I won't leave your side."

"Lieutenant Blackfoot is a big teddy bear, Willy. He has a son named Carson that's the same age as you that plays baseball."

"Uncle Charlie plays catch with me."

"Well, maybe when you get a little better, you can come and play baseball with Carson," Barry suggested.

"Really? He's...he's...not mean is he?" Clearly, poor Will has been bullied at school.

"No, Carson's a good kid. He's just about your size and he likes playing Nintendo Wii."

"I like playing Wii."

My father motioned for us to leave the room because Will was getting comfortable with Barry. He stayed in there, of course. The rest of us went to the waiting room where the entire family had congregated. Paul, Jared, Sam, Ryan, and Sammy were the exception. They were at the high school working on the high school gym.

Number Six came running up to me and gave me a big hug.

"What's up kiddo?"

"Oh, I'm going to spend as much time with you while Ryan and Sammy are serving out detention," he announced with a grin. "I haven't missed one day of school yet this year!"

We all had a good chuckle. I was just about to sit down and enjoy my coffee when my pager and Randy's started going haywire. My cell phone started ringing and so did his.

"Damn it!" we both yelled, simultaneously.

Everyone stared at us in concern.

"It's not Will," I assured them.

"_All available doctors and nurses, please report to the emergency department,"_ the announcement on the PA system stated.

A nurse came running into the waiting room, "Dr. Kayani, Mrs. Lahote, they need your assistance in the emergency department. There was a forty car pile up on the five and we're expecting a flood of injuries at the hospital.

"Come on, Bella," Randy stated. "Kim, would you call Mina and tell her what's going on?"

"No problem."

I threw my house keys at Emily. "Do you mind cooking for my father?"

"Kim and I have got this, you two get on out of here."

Randy and I rushed down towards the emergency department prepared for a long day in the trenches.

**Charlie's POV**

By the time I finished hearing Will's story, I was absolutely livid. Not at the boy, I was actually proud of him for sticking to his convictions, even if it meant taking a beating. I wish he had come to me or Billy instead of running though. But in his eyes, Phoenix meant safety because his aunts and uncles were here. He felt lonely and abandoned.

I was furious at the three thugs who tried to offer him drugs, then beat him. I was also furious at Angela and Jake, too. He had gone to them numerous times regarding Kurt Fuller and they shrugged him away stating that it was Uncle Tony's son, and he would never do anything to harm Will. From what I've seen of Kurt Fuller, he was so wretched, that he even gave thugs a bad name. Kurt was very different from his older brother Brady who truly had a good heart. It's almost as if Brady sucked all of the goodness out of Kurt.

Will relayed that this was the fourth time this type of thing has happened and that each time he told Angela or Jake, they brushed him off. Angela and Jake both care about Will, don't get me wrong, but they're blind when it comes to Tony Fuller and they refuse to believe that any of his offspring would do harm to another. I, for one, have never gotten along with Tony Fuller. He's the scum of the earth, and his poor wife is emotionally abused by him. He has four kids, and out of all of them, Brady is the only one that's a genuinely good kid.

The other kid involved was Travis Johnson's kid, Terrance, and another kid named Mark from the reservation. Because the sons of the tribal chief of police and a tribal elder are involved, this case has now officially become the business of the Forks Police Department. This was considered felony assault and battery, and since there are drugs involved, I planned on doing my best to charge these kids as adults.

Unfortunately for Jake and Angela, the Department of Social Services will probably be called as well since Will crossed several state lines and is considered a runaway at this point. He obviously felt unsafe at home so they will be checking into his home life in La Push. Lieutenant Blackfoot and I were going to discuss the situation later in private. Until then, we were going to stay mum about the case. This was going to be difficult for me to do because, personally, I wanted to throttle Jake and Angela for being so god damned oblivious.

Around nine pm, an exhausted Bella was finally dropped off at home by Dr. Kayani. Paul and I were having beers and watching a game on TV.

"I don't get paid enough for this shit!" Bella moaned. "I had trauma case after trauma case. I thought that I would only have to do triage, but they threw me in with Randy all day to assist. Apparently, he's also licensed in emergency medicine so, all of a sudden, I was thrown smack dab in the middle of the emergency department. I mean, I did my rotations there when I was in school, but this was different. Paul, we're moving to Tahiti!"

"Did you have a long day, Bells?" I asked. "Oh and let me know when you move to Tahiti, I'm coming with ya."

There was a knock on their door just then. "Hey, guys." An exhausted looking Quil carrying a duffle bag and what looked like a box from a bakery walked inside.

"What's up?" Paul asked.

"Can I stay here tonight?"

"Sure, why?"

"I can only take so much of Jake, but with Collin there too, my head's about to spin off. Oh, here, Rachel picked up a chocolate cake. Don't worry, it's from a bakery, she didn't bake it."

Phew, I got kind of worried there. Rachel Black Ateara has to be a worse cook than even me and Billy.

"Why the hell did Collin come along anyway?"

"Collin's not a bad kid, he cares deeply about Will and he was concerned about him. In any case, Jake and Collin are going to have to return to Washington on a late night flight tomorrow anyway. They have their shop to run."

"How long are you staying for, Dad?"

"Now that I'm here in an official capacity, probably a week, maybe two. It depends on how long my investigation takes. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, not at all. But why are you here in an official capacity? Shouldn't the La Push Tribal Police be handling this?"

"It fell under my jurisdiction as soon as I found out the names of the kids involved."

"Let me guess," Quil said. "Kurt Fuller, Terrance Johnson, and Mark Cedro."

"How did you know?"

"Oh, those were the same kids that roughed up Ryan, Sammy, and Number Six last year. I had a few words with their parents, but they didn't do shit about it. Rachel and Jessica made sure that they dropped our boys off at home when school ended, after that. Those boys need to be in juvenile hall."

"Oh, no, what they did to Will is considered felony assault and battery, they'll all be tried as adults if I have my way. And I will have my way. The La Push Tribal Police won't have any say in this because Travis Johnson is the police chief and Tony Fuller is a tribal elder, it would be a conflict of interest. On top of that, Will crossed several state lines trying to get to safety. I'll meet with Lieutenant Blackfoot on Monday to hash things out, then I'll have Seth prepare an arrest warrant for the three thugs. This stays between us, though. I don't need Jake or Collin calling to warn anyone, though I doubt that even they would in this case."

"Geez, how is it even possible for kids to become so cruel and violent?"

"I wondered the same thing myself. Do you mind if I question Number Six about what happened to him?"

"You've got my permission. He was always with Ryan and Sammy so he wasn't roughed up quite as badly as Will was, but he was still shaken up."

"Damn it, I wish you'd told me Quil. I could have gotten those boys into juvie last year."

"Yeah, I probably should have, in hindsight."

"I'm going to call Sam and Jared to see if I can question their boys as well."

"I doubt it'll be a problem at all."

"Hey, can one of you take me to rent a car tomorrow?" I asked, changing the subject.

"I'll do you one better, Dad," Paul said. "I just ordered a new truck for myself. The Escalade EXT just wasn't cutting it. With this new highway project, I'm finding myself out in the field more and more so I had to order a Chevy work truck. Why don't you just take the Escalade home with you? We don't need three vehicles."

"Don't be ridiculous Paul. Those trucks are about seventy thousand dollars."

"So, it depreciated in value. I drove it for three and a half years."

"Dad, just take it," Bella insisted. "He was going to have it shipped to you in La Push anyway."

"Yeah, but you kids are still young and just starting out. You need to save as much money as possible so you can send your kids to college."

"Take the fucking truck, Charlie. Paul made eleven million dollars last year," Quil said.

My jaw dropped. I knew my son-in-law was wealthy, but not by that caliber. I thought he made a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. He didn't act like a pompous millionaire, and my Bells never acted like a stuck-up rich bitch. Angela acted more like one. She drove around town in a silver Volvo-the same model as the Cullen kid used to drive, and she carried those ridiculously expensive designer handbags and wore high heels all the time. She also made Jake wear khakis and button down shirts all the time. The bitch would always tell him that he may only be a mechanic, but that didn't mean he had to look like one. The thing about Jake and Collin is that they both made very good money running their shop. They were, by far, the most popular comprehensive auto repair shop in the area and the prices that they charged were fair and reasonable.

"I'll take the truck. Thank you, Paul."

"Don't mention it, Dad."

_**The next morning...**_

"Good morning," I greeted Paul, Bella, and Quil who were all at the table having breakfast.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat at the table and had a sip. "Bella, I don't know what you do, but you make the best coffee."

"I don't make the coffee, Paul does."

"No kidding, son? This is good."

"I was well trained," he chuckled. "I was a barista at Starbucks during college."

"Really? I've been there a couple of times in Port Angeles. I had some kind of iced coffee with cinnamon in it. It was really good."

"An 'Iced Cinnamon Dolce Latte' maybe? I can make you that. It's just espresso, milk, and cinnamon dolce flavored syrup topped with whipped cream."

Like I said, the guy wasn't a pompous millionaire. "That would be great."

"I'll just be a minute."

"See, isn't it handy having the Great Barista in the family?" Quil laughed.

"Yeah, I suppose it is."

"So, Daddy, we're hitting the gym," my daughter said.

"The gym?"

"Yes, the gym."

"Why?"

"Because you're getting fat."

"I'm not fat, Bells."

"Dad, your waist must have increased by six inches at least and Sue told me that you're taking Lipitor for your cholesterol now."

Damn it, my wife has such a big mouth.

"It's just a little spare tire, I've still got abs underneath."

"Daddy, those are fat rolls."

"They're not fat rolls, Bella. They're liberty layers."

"Charlie, you're hitting the gym with us. Quil's going to try my workout with me," Paul chuckled.

"Unless you can't keep up with the young guys, Daddy," my daughter challenged.

"Oh, I can keep up. I'm a cop." _ I hope._

Two hours later, we were at the gym and I was dying. I was pretty sure that I was at least close to it.

"Where did you learn this workout, Paul?"

"Oh, Renee's husband, Phil, taught it to me. This is the workout he puts his baseball players through."

"And he does it too?"

"Yeah, he does."

"He's fucking psycho, man," Quil groaned. "You're psycho. And what's with Bella? She hasn't gotten off of the elliptical yet and we've been here for forty-five minutes already. She's psycho too!"

Well, shit. If my ex-wife's new husband does this, I'm gonna man up and do this workout.

"Paul, I'm going to the Body Pump class, okay?" Bella said.

"Okay, I'll see you after. We should be done here by then."

"Wait! Bella, I'm coming with you," Quil said.

You know what, Phil's a young guy. I'm man enough to admit that I'm a wimp. "I'm coming too." I ran after my daughter.

"Your funeral, guys," Paul chuckled.

An hour later, Paul, Quil, and I were sitting in the steam room at the gym. "You could have warned us Paul," Quil said. Paul was kicking back looking no worse for the wear while Quil and I were struggling to even sit still.

"When did women become so tough?" I whimpered. "My muscles hurt."

"Yeah, Body Pump is circuit training to music. I take that class with Bella sometimes."

"Are you insane? Those women are psychotic. I'm scared of those women!"

"I'll hook you up with my massage therapist tomorrow, Charlie," Paul was laughing at both me and Quil. We were groaning in pain.

Later, we all went to the hospital to do a quick check on Will. Jake, Billy, Collin, and Rachel were already there, but his eyes lit up as soon as he saw my Bella.

"Hi, Aunty Bella."

"Hey, Willy, how are you doing?"

"Good, my tummy still hurts, though."

"It'll hurt for a few more days, then I promise it'll get better. I brought you a surprise."

"What is it?"

She handed Will a little bag. He opened it up. "Whoa! A Nintendo Dsi! Are you sure? These cost a lot of money."

"Yes, I'm sure. You deserve it, you're a little trooper. Besides, you'll need something to kill the time while you're in here. Uncle Paul picked out a whole bunch of games for you, too."

"I brought you something, too," Quil said.

"What?"

Quil handed Will a Barnes and Noble bag. He looked inside and whooped in joy. "The whole Harry Potter series? For real?"

"Yeah, for real. You've always liked to read."

"Thanks! This is better than Christmas. I should get beat up more often!"

"Um, no, let's not do that."

Around one pm, the four of us headed to lunch. Quil, it seemed, had no intention whatsoever of remaining in Jacob's presence. Paul took us to a place called the Bikini Lounge. I became all excited thinking that there were going to be pretty waitresses in bikinis, but it turned out to be a dive bar run by an older couple.

"Frank, Madge—I want you to meet my dad, Charlie Swan," Bella called out towards the bar.

"Are you the cop?" Frank asked.

"Yeah, I am."

"Well, good to finally meet you. My wife and I've known Blondie since she was eight years old. She's talked about you non-stop since then."

"Eight?" I was a bit surprised at that. "You must be friends with her mother."

"That flake? Hell no!" Madge snapped, venomously. "Frank and I used to take care of the little peanut here in the bar while Renee was out on one of her many dates. Bella would sit at that table over there in the corner, right by the kitchen, while her mother and her flavor of the week were flirting away at the other side of the bar. Your daughter would always sneak into the kitchen to watch me cook. Eventually I just invited her in with me and gave her simple tasks so she wouldn't get bored. And we hired her to cook with me as soon as she entered high school."

"Is that why you cook so well, Bells?" I asked.

"Yep, Madge taught me everything she knows."

"Well, thank you for keeping an eye on her," I said.

"And thank you for teaching her how to cook," Quil said honestly. "My wife can't cook for beans. The woman shouldn't be permitted near any food sources. Without Bella, I'd be dead."

"It was our pleasure. Blondie, you can help me rustle up some burgers for this crowd."

"Okay, Madge, I will."

Bella hustled into the kitchen along with Madge. Frank brought some beers over to us and pulled up a chair. "I'll tell you, it's a wonder that Blondie turned out so well. That mother of hers should have never had custody of her. Do you know that Blondie took care of all the bills because her mother couldn't balance a checkbook? Don't get me wrong, Renee's not a bad woman, she loves Bella with all her heart. She's just a little girl herself and too irresponsible and incapable of being anyone's parent. That Phil guy was the best thing that ever happened to her. He takes care of her, but you, you should have taken custody of Bella. She's never had a chance to be a kid."

"I didn't realize how bad it was. Bella never breathed a word to me," I said remorsefully. I truly had no idea. I really felt horrible.

"No wonder she nailed into Jake and Angela this past weekend," Quil noted. "She had no childhood herself."

"No, but she became a strong woman," Paul stated. "She's about as independent as can be."

"Blondie loves her mother with everything she has. She's perceptive, she's known from the time she was a little girl that Renee's an idiot and I think she knew that her mother wouldn't be able to survive without her. Listen, I'm sorry I'm spilling my guts to you now, but that little girl means a lot to me and Madge—we have no children of our own. I've been wanting to get this crap off of my chest for over two decades now."

I extended my hand out to Frank. "Thanks for looking after my little girl." I made a mental note to ask my daughter about all of this, privately, later. "Why do you call her Blondie?"

Frank and Paul both started howling then proceeded to tell me and Quil about the prick doctor she dated for a while before she met Paul. All four of us started laughing after that.

I'm glad that Bella brought me here. I learned a lot about her. Things that I should have been informed of, but never was. I should have been more involved as a parent, that's one mistake that I'll regret until the day I die.

After having our burgers, we returned to Paul and Bella's house. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you guys, what happened to your kitchen and living room?"

"That would be Jacob's fault," Bella replied. "He phased in the middle of the living room and came after me and Kim in the kitchen. Then some of the other guys phased to protect us and voila, we have no more kitchen and living room."

"Say what?" I was outraged. That little shit tried to attack my Bella and Kim Cameron. "Explain!"

"We will, Dad, but not now. I think Billy and Collin need to hear this too. There have been major changes in the pack. I don't even think Mom knows about it," Paul said.

"Alright, but it had better be a good explanation because I'm about to drive over to where Jacob is and put a bullet between his eyes. What the hell was he thinking?"

"It'll all be explained. I promise, Dad."

"It'd better be," I growled causing Paul to flinch. Haha, I think I just intimidated my son-in-law. I love being myself sometimes.

**How do you like our lactating, she-wolf Pampered Chef hostess and her way of befriending Linda? What do you think of the information that Linda offered up? What's your opinion of Angela now that you've had a few revelations from Linda, Leah, and Charlie? Poor Will, are you ready to go to La Push and beat Tony Fuller's kid senseless? Do you think that Paul and Bella handled Will well? Do you like how Chief Swan is working with Lieutenant Blackfoot? Do you think Charlie and Quil are ever going to recover from their workouts? Let me know your thoughts and I'll respond to your reviews. XOXO mama4dukes**


	14. Chapter 14

**I apologize for the long delay. I had to deal with one physics project, one district chorus audition, one science fair, a school dance, making forty madeleines for my middle schooler's French class, and a finicky fanfiction dot net that decided not to let me log in for two days. Needless to say, my kids needed my attention. By the way, you can thank my husband for the madeleines. I was at the science fair when he signed the permission form and decided on the madeleines for the French Food Festival. He claimed that the recipe seemed fairly straightforward. Why couldn't he just say croissants? I could have just purchased those at Costco? It's not like he can cook. I'm convinced that the festival was an excuse for the French teacher to eat free food for a day. Anyway, my madeleines came out great-of course, I had to buy a pan, all of the ingredients, and slave in the kitchen until one am on Thursday night while everyone slept. **

**Thank you for your fantastic feedback. I'm so happy that you're enjoying this story. This is my favorite one to write. **

**The sex scene in this chapter is dedicated to IzzyBFFAddict92. **

**This story is AU/OOC/OTT**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Warning: I'm going to switch POVs from Collin to Paul to Collin to Paul again-I tried to make it as seamless as possible, but it was a necessity in this chapter.**

**LunarEclipse1 created this incredible new banner for Intensity for me. Thanks Inmate! www(dot)flickr(dot)com/photos/mama4dukes/6857508103/**

**Collin's POV**

In the evening there was a gathering at Bella and Paul's house. The entire pack and their imprints were there, as well as, Dr. Kayani and Lieutenant Blackfoot. We were also introduced to a Jeff Redbird, Crispin Hodges, and Manny Istaqa plus their wives. Leah and Seth were the only ones not at the gathering.

"Since Collin, my father, and Charlie are here, Paul and I have an announcement to make," Jake stated. "Collin, you enjoy reading about our legends in the archives, don't you?"

"Yes, but Jake, those legends are not to be mentioned outside of our tribe."

"He's right, son," Billy reminded him.

Jake ignored Billy's and my statements and asked, "Do you know the legend of the Great Protector?"

"Yes, my mother used to tell it to me as a bedtime story when I was a little boy."

Jake nodded his head, then said, "What do you remember about the story? It's okay, you can say it in front of these guys."

I was hesitant to speak, but this was my alpha talking so I knew that I had to tell the legends in front of these strangers. I knew them well, my mother had told them to me nightly as a young boy.

"Um, let me think. He'll mark his mate at a great distance from La Push at their first joining. Um, she'll be a healer, and have prior knowledge of our world...and that of the Cold Ones. The Great Protector's mate will carry two marks, one from a Cold One and one from the Great Protector. The Great Protector will befriend a spirit warrior from the land of the Cina Ahuwipi. Together they will form an alliance with the people of the Cina Ahuwipi. They will run together as a pack of fifteen, and protect their tribes and mates from those that threaten to harm them. The god of the underworld will release the Cina Ahuwipi people from their servitude, to be watched over by Taha Aki forevermore. The moment this happens, they will be able to speak with each other as one."

"Holy motherfucking fuck, fuck, fuck!" Billy, who hardly ever swears, did so, and in good form, I might add. It was so uncharacteristic of him.

"Charlie, what are you laughing about?" Billy asked.

"You swore. You never swear. Coming from you, it's oddly comforting," he chuckled.

"This is serious here, my son is claiming that the legends of the Great Protector are true. Never in my life, did I imagine that it could be true."

"Well, who's the Great Protector?"

"It's your son-in-law."

"No, shit? Awesome. Congratulations, son. I knew you were made of great stuff."

"Prove it," I said. "I need proof."

Bella walked up to me and showed her wrist to me. I became angry and started shaking.

"Who did that to you? Was it Cullen? Who? Tell me, Bella!"

My shaking became more intense. Manny Istaqa whisked Charlie and Bella away from me. Furniture was abruptly pushed away and I was moved to an open area of the living room and, before I knew it, I had phased into wolf form and so had Paul, Jacob, and...fuck me...did Lieutenant Blackfoot and Dr. Kayani just turn into gigantic coyotes?

"_Holy shit,"_ I thought before I was overcome by a sea of darkness.

**Paul's POV**

_Thud! _Collin landed in wolf form on his side. Did he just faint?

"_Collin? Collin?"_ I called, but received no answer. I looked around my living room and everyone looked completely stunned. Well, hell, the house just rocked as if we were in an earthquake. I hope the foundation to my house is okay.

Sam must have been on the same train of thought because the next thing he said was, "I'm gonna go and check to make sure the foundation held up." He stood up and quickly ran out of the house.

Randy lowered his head to Collin's chest to make sure that he was still breathing. Babs and Bella walked up to attempt to check his vitals.

"I think he just fainted," Bella murmured.

"Yeah, his vitals seem fine, but I'm not a vet. We could always call Randy's grandfather, he's a shifter and a vet."

"_Gentlemen, I believe that we have our first fainting shape-shifter,"_ Randy declared.

"_I've never seen that, have you?"_ I asked him.

"_No, I'll ask my grandfather later. He's checking into wolf lactation for Leah anyway."_

"_What's wolf lactation?" _Jacob asked.

"_Oh, Leah's breasts are constantly engorged and it's becoming painful for her. We think it might have something to do with the fact that she's phasing while nursing."_

"_What if she laid warm compresses on her breasts while in wolf form,"_ Barry suggested. _"I remember Cheyenne had to do that when she was nursing when she became engorged."_

"_And just how the hell is she supposed to put compresses on her wolf titties?"_ Jacob asked.

"_Well, she can lie down on her back and one of you out in La Push can do it for her. You might need bath towel though."_

"_Alright, can we get off the subject of Leah's tits?" _I questioned. _"We have a passed out wolf here."_

Collin started stirring awake at that moment. We all backed away to give him some space.

**Collin's POV**

I woke up to the sound of laughter. I opened my eyes slowly and caught sight of two wolves and two coyotes looking down at me. What the heck am I doing on the floor?

"_You fainted,"_ Dr. Kayani informed me.

"_Fainted?"_

"_Yes, fainted. I believe that you're the first shape-shifter in history to faint."_

"_This is so embarrassing. You guys aren't going to let me forget about this, are you?"_

"_Nope, from now on you'll be known as Fainting Wolf,"_ Lieutenant Blackfoot informed me.

"_Fainting wolf?"_

"Well, shit, I think that's proof enough. Collin you've had enough down time, haven't you?" Billy chuckled. "Phase back guys," he ordered.

As soon as we phased back to human form, I got down on one knee in front of Paul and stated, "I, Collin Littlesea, pledge my allegiance to my brother Paul Lahote—the Great Protector, true spirit warrior, and rightful Alpha of the Pack." One thing was for sure, there was no way in hell that I was going to doubt any of the legends.

After a couple of minutes, one of the women from the pack of coyotes said, "Is it wrong of me to say that I'm finding the sight in front of me oddly erotic? I mean, Paul and Collin are both naked, and one of them is actually on his knees in front of him. They're both in top shape too."

"Babs, can't you keep your trap shut for one moment? This is a serious moment here," her husband chastised.

"Oh, yeah, for you guys maybe," Jessica giggled. "I'm liking what I'm seeing. Go on Collin, open up and say ahh..."

Paul jerked away from me quicker than lightening.

Bella was clutching her stomach and laughing uncontrollably together with Kim and Emily. It dawned upon me that Linda would probably get along well with this group of women. She had been expressing her dislike for Angela for a while now.

"Can someone get us some clothes please?" I asked, as I got to my feet.

"Don't do it Bella, I like seeing them naked."

"Lisa, you get to see me naked in bed every night."

"Meh, you've got to bump up your workout. Collin and Paul are in way better shape than you are."

"That's only because the guy is psychotic in the gym," Sam defended him. "He's nuts, I tell you. It took me a month to recover from my one workout with him."

"Are you kidding? Charlie and I worked out with Bella today. I don't think we're ever gonna be the same. She's worse than Paul is," Quil informed us.

"I worked out muscles today that I never knew existed," Charlie added.

"Hey, it took me a while to work up to the Body Pump class," Bella said. "You should start out light with some yoga or something."

"Yoga? I'm a man."

"I do yoga," Paul said.

"So do I," Barry stated. "They offer a yoga class at the station. We're required to keep in shape."

"Maybe I should do the same for my department," Charlie mused out loud.

"When you stop by at the station tomorrow, I'll show you around."

"Alright, that'd be great."

"Come on, Collin. Do a little dance for us," Mina joked. "Shake those tight buns for us."

"Bella, please? Can you get us some clothes?" Paul asked. "I swear, the imprints in my pack have been a bad influence on the ones in Crispy's pack. They used to never be this raunchy."

"That's cause you haven't been alone with us on one of our ladies' nights," Babs smirked.

"Oh, we'd scare them off for life if they ever came with us on one of our nights out," Kim agreed.

Bella ran upstairs to grab some clothes for everyone, all the while, giggling.

Paul took the opportunity to speak. "Jacob, were you able to hear Crispy's pack when you phased."

"Yes, I did."

"How about you, Collin?"

"Once I came to again after I fainted, I was able to hear everyone loud and clear. I think it was because I made up my mind that you were my alpha at that point, even if I hadn't pledged my allegiance to you then."

"Good. Jacob, Collin, I'm giving you an alpha order not to speak about any of this to Old Quil, your imprints, and especially to Tony Fuller. As far as they're concerned, Jacob is still alpha."

"Why? Why not Tony Fuller?" I asked.

Charlie decided to step in at that moment, "Collin, Tony Fuller's son is going to be under investigation for assaulting Will."

"It was him?"

"Yes," Jake said. "It was Kurt Fuller, Terrance Johnson, and Mark Cedro."

"Those boys are as big as we are!" I yelled outraged. "What the hell business do they have beating up on little Willy?"

"They were trying to force drugs on him."

I became red in the face, started shaking, and phased again.

"He has the least control out of the pack," Jake pointed out. "You might want to open your patio door and let him out."

"Collin, you can go for a run, but under no circumstances are you to run to La Push to shakedown those boys or their fathers," Paul warned. "That's an alpha order."

I nodded my head as Paul opened the door. "I'll go with him," Jared sighed, stripped and phased outside. "I'll keep him in line."

I ran outside with Jared, completely outraged. I was fuming. I ran thoughts of my recent argument with Linda through my brain. I couldn't control myself.

"_Stay calm, Collin. It's imperative that you remain in control," _Jared said.

"_How did you find out about having the connection with the coyotes anyway?"_ I asked.

Jared ran thoughts of the impromptu visit from Jacob and Angela through his mind. I became angrier and headed back towards Paul and Bella's house. I was going at top speed and Jared was trying to keep up with me. I can't believe that Jacob tried to attack Bella and Kim. Imprints must be protected no matter what. It was a pack rule.

"_Collin, I know it's a pack rule. Beat the shit out of the creep if you want, but do it in human form. Don't go endangering the imprints because you can't stay in control of your temper. I'm serious man, you lay one paw on any of the imprints, even by accident, and you'll have a whole pack of wolves and coyotes on your ass!"_

When I got near Paul's house, I was met by Paul and Crispy in their wolf and coyote forms.

"_Phase back, Collin. That's a fucking order! You will stay in control!"_ Paul's order resonated through my body and I immediately returned to human form. Paul told me to stay in control, but he never said that I couldn't kick the crap out of Jacob in human form. I shoved past Paul and Crispy ran into the house and clocked Jacob on the jaw. I was on top of him, pounding him left and right.

"What the hell is going on?" Billy asked.

"He fucking tried to attack two imprints in wolf form, Uncle Billy!" I yelled.

"Jacob! Is what Collin is saying true?" his father demanded angrily.

I was abruptly yanked off of Jacob by Manny and Sam, both of whom were bigger and stronger than I was. They had firm holds on my body so that I couldn't move. Bella handed what looked like a medical bag to Randy, who promptly went to check on Jacob's injuries.

"Two fractured ribs, a black eye, and a bruised face, Jake. That's better than last weekend. I'm going to tape you up now. Stay still on the floor for about an hour. You should knit up pretty quickly."

"I want to know what happened last weekend now!" Billy shouted from his chair. He was completely red in the face and frustrated. To be frank, he looked almost animalistic. He was even foaming at the mouth. Bella ran to the refrigerator and got him a glass of orange juice and told him to drink it. "I'd prefer a beer, Bella."

"I don't give a shit. You're diabetic. Drink the damn juice before your sugar level plummets! You can't be losing your temper like that, Billy."

"Angela never takes care of me like you do."

"Angela's a fucking twit. Sorry, Jacob."

"She gets her mouth from me," Charlie announced proudly. Well, that has to be the weirdest thing for a father to be proud of.

"How long has it been since you've had a full physical and had your blood sugar levels checked, Mr. Black?" Randy asked.

"Call me, Billy. It's probably been about eighteen months."

"Eighteen months?" Randy and Bella both gasped.

"Will you be sticking around these parts after Jacob and Collin leave?" Randy asked.

"Yes, I was planning on keeping an eye on Willy."

"I want you in my office on Monday morning with your prescriptions. I'm surprised that your health clinic on the reservation hasn't been keeping up with your diabetes. I'm going to get you all squared away and I'm ordering a full lab work up, then I'll be giving your doctor a call."

"I don't have a doctor. There's a diabetic educator at the clinic that comes down from time to time, but it's been a while," Billy admitted. "I also don't think that I can afford a physical."

"Don't worry about it," Randy said in all seriousness. "Your health is more important. Besides, don't you carry the insurance provided by the Indian Health Service?"

"Yes."

"Well, my clinic takes it so if you'd feel better about it, we can run that through for you. It's portable and you can use it anywhere that takes it."

"I didn't know. I thought we could only use it on our own reservation."

"No, not at all."

"I didn't know that, Randy," Bella said. "But then again, Dr. Blanchard doesn't take IHS insurance so I don't know the inner workings of that. So does that mean that everyone here with the exception of me, my father, Jess, Lisa, and Cheyenne can go to your clinic using their IHS insurance?"

"Well, yes, but the women all seem to prefer to go to you using their private health insurance."

"That's because we're more comfortable having a woman checking out our privates," Rachel said.

"You see, Bella. That's why I need you to come and work for me. I'm losing a lot of patients because of you."

"I'll make a deal with you. When Dr. Blanchard retires, I'll come and work for you."

"Deal and it's an open invitation for you always. I still think that you should go to medical school though."

"No way, I'm busy enough as it is. Besides, after yesterday's fiasco, I don't ever want to be in an ER again."

"Never say never, Bella," Randy chuckled.

I became a bit forlorn after witnessing the easy camaraderie between everyone in this room. Things weren't like this in La Push. Linda was right, something weird was happening on our reservation and people were uptight and upset.

"Will someone please tell me what happened this past weekend to prompt Jacob to attack two imprints?" Billy finally went back to the topic at hand.

Paul explained what transpired to those of us not in the know.

"You goddamned idiot! If Tony Fuller told you to hurl yourself off of a bridge onto oncoming traffic, would you do that?" Billy asked Jacob after hearing the story. "You had no fucking business coming here and invading Paul and Bella's personal space!"

Jacob looked ashamed from his perch on the floor. I was still upset at my cousin and couldn't speak.

"You need to open your eyes, Jacob. Tony Fuller is a swine. Right now, the rest of us are trying to figure out a way to oust his ass from the tribal council. He's singlehandedly running our tribe into the ground and it doesn't help that he's comptroller because he has his nose in everything. It'll do you well to bear in mind that I'm the chief of the tribe, not Tony Fuller. And I think this new information is just the ticket to get Old Quil's head out of his ass too," Billy said. "Quil, call your grandfather and tell him that you miss him. Send him a plane ticket and get him over to Arizona. I think it's time we set him straight."

"Daddy! I don't want Old Quil staying at our house!" Rachel complained. "He's too...old and traditional!"

"How about if I stay with Paul and Bella?" Quil offered brightly. "Bells, you don't mind cooking for me, do you?"

"I'm not that bad of a cook!" Rachel huffed.

"Yes, you are," we all replied.

"Rachel, this is for the good of our tribe." Billy suddenly smiled. "I'll tell you what, sweetheart, I can stay here with Paul and Bella. Bella, you don't mind having your old Uncle Billy stay here, do you? I really miss your stroganoff, sweet pea." Sweet pea? Geez, he's pulling out all the stops. I looked at Paul and Bella who looked absolutely horrified at the idea. I couldn't blame my uncle though, I'd run as far as I could from Rachel Ateara's kitchen too. "Oh, and Paul and Bella, there is one thing that I feel strongly about it. I don't care if you got married off of tribal lands, but I do feel that eventually you and the pack need to return to La Push to have a formal imprinting ceremony. You are the alpha, after all."

"I don't understand why we have to go through a formal imprinting ceremony?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, same here," Paul agreed.

"For the sake of tradition, plus there's usually some mystical bonding shit that comes with the territory," Crispy replied. "At least in our tribe."

Bella developed a pouty face and so did Paul. Neither of them had any response and they both looked unhappy at the prospect.

"I, for one, would love to have the two of you come for a visit!" Charlie said, brightly. "It's high time you came home to see me, young lady."

"Speaking of which, Embry and Jessica should do the same thing," Billy told them. Their jaws dropped as well. Both couples were completely unhappy about the idea. "Oh, come on, it won't be that bad, you'll be going through the ceremony together and you'll be surrounded by friends. Your Gila River friends will be there too."

"We're from the Wa-Ya Indian Reservation," Crispy replied. "May I take you on a tour of our reservation sometime this week, Chief Black?"

"I think it would be a good idea, actually," Jeff said. "He can see how a well run reservation works. We only have a four percent unemployment rate."

"Four percent?" I asked, shocked. "But that's less than the national unemployment rate."

"Yes, we make it a point to make sure that all facets of our tribe are running cohesively. From our facilities to the government to the personal lives of our members. Each member is just as important as the next. It doesn't matter whether you're a tribal elder or an infant, you're treated with equal importance. We never put one member ahead of another."

"That's how all tribal governments should run," I noted. "Hell, that's how the nation should run."

"I can't agree more, Collin," Billy said. "I'd be very interested in touring your reservation. Thank you for your offer."

"If the two packs are combined, I think it's important that both are functioning as best as they could. With my position in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, I'm particularly interested in the betterment of the Quileute Nation. I toured the Makah Reservation, the Hoh Reservation, and the Quinault Indian Reservation in your area and I can tell you the infrastructure of all three nations are functioning at a higher level than your tribe. Each of those reservations have a ten year improvement plan in place and are working actively towards reaching those goals. I saw no such plan in place in La Push and I would highly recommend that you get one into place before one is put into place for you."

"I'd like to discuss the situation more with you, Jeff. I know that we've been under investigation from your office and I'd like to see what can be done to remedy the situation."

"I can tell you that it's going to take a lot of hard work. I can't delve into specifics without compromising our investigation, but what I can tell you is that Tony Fuller has his hands in too much. I'd like to know why you're so reliant on the man. For those of you returning to the reservation, I'm requesting that you keep your eyes and ears open. Look for anything suspicious concerning the man."

"He just paid cash for a seven series BMW for his wife and a Mercedes SL 550 Roadster for himself," I blurted.

"But the Beamer starts at seventy thousand dollars and the Mercedes starts at a hundred grand!" Jake snapped in shock.

"This is the type of information I need. A comptroller for a tribal government shouldn't be able to afford luxury vehicles."

"I'll do some checking myself," Charlie offered. "I have a feeling that there's some embezzlement of tribal funds going on. You do realize that this is going to turn into a federal case if our findings are correct."

"Man, I can't believe that my father is such a shit!" Brady seethed. "I actually feel good about the fact that he disowned my ass."

"Son, you're nothing like your father or your brothers. You're a good, honorable man. I've always respected you," Charlie told him straight.

"Thanks, Charlie."

I couldn't believe all the information I was just hit with. Un-fucking-believable! And Jacob and I fell right for the asshole's schmoozing. Linda was the only vigilant one and Angela was still licking the creep's asshole.

"Paul, can you reiterate your alpha order to Jacob not to mention this to anyone outside of the pack? I don't trust Angela," I told him.

"What the hell, man? Why the hell are you coming down on my Angela?"

"Because she thinks that Tony Fuller is God, that's why. And you can't be trusted not to say anything to your imprint!"

Just to be sure, Paul reiterated his alpha order to Jacob. I was so pissed off at my cousin right now. I still wanted to kick the crap out of him for being so god-damned oblivious. Hell, I wanted to kick the crap out of myself for the same reason. I realized that when I returned to Seattle tomorrow, I'd be on my knees apologizing to Linda and begging her to take me back. She was right all along.

_**One week later...**_

**Paul's POV**

It was nine pm on Friday evening and I was still in my office with Crispy and Grant working on my proposal to the Senate Finance Committee. This was Grant's last night before leaving his position. He'd done everything humanly possible to prepare us and from here on out, it would be just me and Crispy. We were well prepared though. I didn't plan on falling flat on my face. This deal was too big for it to fall through and I was prepared for every eventuality. What I had going for me was that, unlike my competitors, I never offered any kickbacks to the government. This was also my biggest downfall because there were some politicians who lived in the pockets of my competitors. Another thing that I never did was to declare a political party. Oddly enough, Bella never had either. This boded well in my favor because I had politicians from both parties trying to drum up my support and Bella's. As for charities, the only ones that Bella and I supported were the ones that we truly believed in and no one would ever doubt our support because both of us had sound reasons for contributing to those charities.

As for my personal life, it was a veritable shitstorm. Old Quil arrived in Phoenix this afternoon and he was staying at Rachel and Quil's. Billy Black was coming to our house and Willy has been staying with Kim and Jared since he had been discharged from the hospital on Wednesday. Kim was the only one at home and she was an excellent mother so it was determined that she would be the best at caring for Willy. She even had his school work forwarded from the La Push Tribal School so that he could keep up with it. Rachel and Jess were taking turns tutoring him after work.

On top of that, we had the whole issue with Tony Fuller to deal with. Tomorrow, we were all going to have a chat with Old Quil by the Gila River in our animal forms. Crispy and I decided to take care of everything in one go. We were meeting with the tribal shaman of the Wa-Ya Reservation and we were also meeting the fathers of the coyote pack. All of whom were still phasing. Unlike us wolves, they aged normally, but now that some weirder than usual, supernatural crap was going on and the packs have combined, it's thrown everything we've known out the window.

Collin and Jacob had flown home on Monday morning. The two still weren't talking when they left Quil's house. According to Quil, Billy gave Jacob a major ass handing and told him to man up and start thinking for himself. Collin, on the other hand, asked Quil to relay a message to me stating that Linda had expressed an interest in meeting Bella. I barely knew Linda, I've only met her once or twice in passing so I didn't know what to say.

On the plus side, our house was coming along nicely. I had Jared, Sam, Brady, Manny, and even Tom working on renovating the living room and kitchen. With four shape-shifters and Tom Uley, who knew of the existence of the pack, working on the renovations, they could work at top strength and speed. They had finished repairing the damaged walls, expanded the kitchen and closed it off like we wanted and installed the new fixtures. They also put in French doors leading to the patio. Now all they had to do was the painting then install the new wood flooring for both the upstairs and the downstairs. Never in my life would I have ever imagined that the work would be done this quickly. I was estimating two to three weeks, but they exceeded my expectations.

Jared took home the temporary appliances and installed them into his house and Kim was on top of the world. We were giving him our temporary living room furniture after our new furniture was delivered when all the work was completed. Another thing we were gifting to him with was our dining room set. Kim had delivered little Riley on it and we figured that she deserved it for a job well done. Besides, Bella and I were eating on the other side of the table from where she delivered the baby because, let's face it, it may have been sentimental for Kim, but for us it was kind of creepy.

Around one am, we finally called it quits. Grant had helped us complete the proposal. He was hellbent on completing his final job as my employee. I'd have to add a sizable bonus to his final paycheck.

When I arrived home, everyone was fast asleep. Bella was curled up in a ball facing my side of the bed. I quickly stripped my clothes off and hopped into bed, pulling my imprint into my arms. My wife sighed and relaxed her body into mine and I nodded off to sleep just like that.

**XOXO**

At five am, I stirred awake with a raging hard on. Bella, who slept like the dead, was still snoozing away. Her scent was particularly intoxicating this morning and fueling my arousal. I placed a soft kiss on her mating mark to try to nudge her awake. It wasn't working. I decided to lick it gently with my tongue. Nope, she was still asleep. She must have had a really long night. She did call to tell me that she had to run to the hospital to deliver a baby. Unfortunately, her being asleep wasn't helping me with my problem. Aw, hell, I'm just going to make love to her and wake her up that way.

I worked my way down her body planting kisses all over it. I pulled her pajama pants and panties off and buried my face between her legs. What the hell? Am I losing my touch? My imprint is still fast asleep.

To hell with it! I hovered over her and thrust myself inside of her. Her eyes snapped open.

"Paul, I'm tired. I got home close to one am," she whined. "Mmm...that feels nice."

"Um, you just lay there and I'll do all of the work."

"Oh, good," she mumbled and fell back asleep as I continued to pump my cock in and out of her.

"Hey, baby, can you just grab my ass or something. I'm feeling kind of neglected here."

"Sure." She rubbed my back—once, then turned her attention back to sleeping.

I know, I can do her doggie style. She likes that. "Baby, get on your hands on knees."

"Huh? You want me to move?"

"Honey, just do it."

"Grrr..." she groaned, but did as I asked. I pushed into her folds from behind and worked up to a comfortable rhythm.

"Oh...fuck...baby...you feel so good. You're amazing, baby. Have I told you that? Damn...I'm...oh...fuck...oh...Bella..." It didn't take me long to blast my load inside of her. I was so wound up and horny this morning that I needed a release desperately. My wife... "What the hell, Bella? Did you just snore?"

She had her arms folded in front of her on a pillow and her head was resting comfortably on them. She was snoozing away with her ass in the air and me inside of her. "Bella! Bella!"

"Huh? What?"

"We just had sex and you slept through it!"

"Oh, thank you," she yawned and she went right back to sleep. I decided that I was too exhausted to care. At least we were comfortable enough with each other for things like this to be a non-issue. I slumped onto the mattress, pulled her into my arms, and fell back into a peaceful slumber.

**XOXO**

Around eight am, our crew, minus Jared and Sam, who were at detention with their boys showed up to start laying down the new flooring. Bella and I had no choice but to wake up. We climbed into the shower together, got dressed, and went downstairs. Bella started cooking breakfast for the entire crew and, fortunately for her, Penny showed up to give her a hand, knowing that we'd have a hungry work crew in our house. I decided to give everyone a hand to see how much we could accomplish. A couple of hours later, Crispy, Jeff, Randy, and Embry showed up to help too. Mina also showed up to give Bella a hand with the cooking. Quil was at a Cub Scout field trip with Chris and Barry was at some sort of piano recital with one of his kids.

Charlie had taken Billy golfing for the day. He found out that there were handicapped accessible golf carts that would enable Billy to remain seated while he swung his club. This whole thing came about after Billy went to see Randy for a much needed physical. He was told that he needed to become more active and that fishing on the weekends wasn't cutting it. He needed to hit the gym and do sports even from his wheelchair. At the same time, he eyed Charlie with scrutiny and told him that there was no excuse for his recent weight gain. This may have had something to do with the phone call that Bella had put into him earlier that morning, but, to make a long story short, Charlie was told to either cut down on the beer or become physically active. He was told that he had no excuse since he had two working arms and legs. With that information, the two of them started hitting my gym and today, they were golfing. I guess the thought of cutting beer out of their lives was enough motivation to make them more active.

"Lunch is served!" Penny announced as she laid some plates out for us.

"Wow, this is a feast!" I exclaimed, checking out the spread. The woman ran a catering business along with Randy's wife, Mina, and she was a pro at cooking for a crowd.

"Try a bit of everything and fill out these forms." She handed each one of us a survey along with a pen. "I need your honest opinion on these dishes. They're new and Mina and I are trying them out to see what kind of reception we get."

"Let us know what you think guys," Mina said. "Make sure you tell us what you like and didn't like about each dish. And Paul, if there's one that you want served at your company Christmas party, be sure to tell us."

"I like this dip thing. It's really good," I said. "It's not on the survey though."

"That's Bella's spinach and artichoke dip!" Penny said with her arms folded in front of her. "Do you like any of the other dishes?"

"Hang on, I haven't tried anything else yet." I dug into some sort of chicken smothered in cheese. "I like this one."

"Yeah, so do I," Tom said.

"Man! This is spicy! What's this dish?" Embry asked. I took a bite of it and thought my mouth was on fire too.

"Um, this is a definite no," Crispy said. "Water!"

"Those are Jabanero Crab Cakes," Penny explained.

"I told you they were too spicy," Bella told her. "Try the shrimp."

We all took a bite of the shrimp. And I think we all just about had orgasms. "This one's a definite," Jared said.

"That's Coconut Shrimp. That's my favorite too," Bella said.

We all polished off our food, went back for seconds and thirds, then went back to work. Sam and Jared showed up around two pm after the detention and started giving us a hand. Mina and Penny fed them and made them fill out surveys too. Jared, with his cast iron stomach, actually liked the Jabanero Crab Cakes.

"How did the detention go?" I asked.

"We're ready to install the flooring. Ryan and Sammy are sleeping over at Greg's house again," Jared said.

"Well, that's good, isn't it? They've made a friend."

"Yeah, it is. Oh, here, Bella. This is from Ryan, Sammy, and Greg."

"What is it?" she asked. "And who's Greg?"

"Greg is Tim's son from work. He's serving out detention with Ryan and Sammy," Sam explained.

Bella, Mina, and Penny started laughing. We all looked up curiously to see why so Bella handed me the gift that she had received from the three boys and the rest of us started cackling. It was a photo of the three of them, shirtless, standing in front of a swimming pool.

"Bella, what are you going to do when the three of them get girlfriends and forget about you? That day is coming soon," Tom said.

"I'll be heartbroken, but I think I'll live," she said.

"By the way, Greg wanted to know if you did any substitute teaching," Jared laughed.

"I'm a nurse practitioner."

"I know, I told him that. Then he asked if you did any substitute nursing."

"Teenaged boys are so funny," Bella commented. "I didn't think so when I was a teenager, but now when I look back, I can't help but laugh at their audacity."

"Oh, I know, they all think that the world revolves around them," Penny said. "I remember Manny thinking that he was God's gift to the world when he was a teenager. I thought he was an asshole. I only went out with him to show him that I was God's gift to the world."

"Oh, tell me about it, Paul hated me when he was a teenager. As a matter of fact, so did Jared. Then there was Quil who thought that the way to a woman's heart was by constantly commenting on her tits."

"Hey, we were young and stupid back then," Jared chuckled.

"I know, you were. Poor Sam had to lead a pack of young idiots and he was barely out of his teens himself. I have no idea how he did it."

"Patience and perseverance and Emily," he replied.

"Yeah, you would have been in over your head without Emily."

We went back to work after that and, with all of us working, we were able to finish the flooring downstairs by the time Billy and Charlie returned home.

"Man, you guys work fast!" Charlie commented. "Are you guys all finished?"

"Just a couple of finishing touches and we're done with the first level, then all we have to do is the flooring for the upstairs," Sam said.

"Well, I thought you guys might be hungry so I brought some Chinese food home for all of you. He put four huge bags of food on the counter. There's also some cold beer in the bed of the truck. Can a couple of you guys go and grab them?" Brady and Manny went out to the garage and grabbed eight cases of beer and brought them back inside.

"Thanks, Dad, how was golfing?" I asked.

"Good, Billy's a fast learner. When are we going to the Wa-Ya Reservation to meet everyone?"

"In about an hour. We're meeting at five pm."

"Good, good."

"Hey, Paul, I meant to ask you? Are you still looking to hire construction workers beginning in January?"

"Yeah, I need a lot more. They're all temporary positions though, albeit they're long term spanning over a few years. Why?"

"Forks is in a recession and there are a lot of unemployed construction workers looking for work. I can put the word out for you and maybe you can fly up and interview them over a couple of days."

"Hey, now, that's not a bad idea, Paul. I know a lot of guys on the res that would kill for a job at this point," Tom said.

"You know, Paul, the BIA can help you find workers as well. They're are a lot of unemployed Native Americans on reservations in and around the United States looking for jobs."

"I like that idea. Let me get the meeting in Washington next week over with and I'll try to come up with a good plan."

"That sounds good, son. Now let's get to eating so we can teach the old geezer to see clearly," my father-in-law said, referring to Old Quil.

I had to admit that each time Charlie called me 'son' it sent a jolt of happiness through my heart. He was the only guy that's ever treated me like a father would a son and it gave me a sense of belonging. I never had a father, unlike everyone else, so it was a nice feeling.

We sat and ate our Chinese food and discussed how we were going to get down to the river.

"I think it would be best if Quil brought his grandfather down separately after we're all gathered down there," Crispy suggested.

"I agree. That way there's no arguing from him. How are we going to get Rachel, Charlie, and Billy down there?" Sam asked.

"Our moms aren't going so one of our dads can take them down."

"Alright, that sounds good."

I wasn't sure what results the meeting with Old Quil would bring about, but we needed him and his knowledge. We just needed to bring his brain into this century and I had a feeling that the coyote fathers would help with that. God my life was getting so weird!

**What do you think of Collin now? He's not such a bad guy, is he? He does faint in wolf form though...hmm... Do you like how he wasn't afraid to show Jake how he felt about him attacking two imprints? How about the information that he imparted about Tony Fullers new purchases? Do you like how Bella handled Billy and his diabetes?** **Do you like how Randy has motivated both Billy and Charlie to become more active by threatening to take away their beer? How about Paul and his need for release and Bella sleeping through it? Have any of you dealt with a horny husband when all you want to do is sleep? I'd love to hear what you thought of this chapter. I look forward to writing back to you with a response. XOXO mama4dukes**


	15. Chapter 15

_**Hello everyone, I'm back. I need to apologize for my month long unintentional hiatus, I was hit with everything from sick kids (pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections, ear infections-you name it, the kids had it) to my son's middle school production of High School Musical to a 3D model of an animal cell made out of food. No, the last one is not a joke-it was a real nightmare. Please be aware that sometimes life truly gets in the way and I'm unable to turn my attention to fanfiction. If there ever is another long break, you can be sure that it's because something got in the way. I love writing and I appreciate, from the bottom of my heart, that I have such wonderful readers that care enough to send me messages worried about my well being, as well as, my family's. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being so caring and so patient.**_

_**I have another issue that I'd like to bring up with you. Over the weekend, a very vigilant reader named Missymumu, sent me a message stating that she discovered that You'll Find What You're Looking For At Walmart had been blatantly stolen and posted, word for word, on another site under a different title. I was devastated at the news, but very grateful to Missymumu for informing me of the news. From that point on, it literally took an army of fanfiction readers and writers alike to assist me in getting the story and the plagiarist removed from the site. It didn't end there though. In the process of urging the site to remove my story, it was discovered that six other stories by different authors had been copied and pasted on various sites under different titles. One story was copied and pasted on two different sites by different plagiarists.**_

_**Plagiarism is a serious issue. It makes a mockery out of fanfiction readers and writers alike and can be especially disheartening for the author whose work was stolen. In addition, plagiarism is against the law and considered to be theft of intellectual property and copyright infringement. I doubt that the plagiarizers realize the severity of their actions.**_

_**At this time, I'd like to ask readers and writers alike to be vigilant of fanfiction theft. If you notice a story has been blatantly stolen, inform the owner of the story so he or she can decide how to proceed. I'm confident that with awareness, we can conquer this vicious evil and make fanfiction a safe and happy place that all of us can enjoy.**_

_**There are several people that I need to thank for their assistance this weekend: Bell1 and NCChris for tackling the issue head on and helping me to get my story removed, Missymumu for alerting me to the situation, and the dozens of readers and writers who came to my aid and contacted the administration of the offending site. Thank you, I am so fortunate to have such wonderful friends in the world of fanfiction.**_

_**And now, on to the story...**_

_**This story is AU/OOC/OTT**_

_**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**_

_**Mature readers 18+ only please.**_

**Linda's POV**

Collin had returned to La Push on Monday and, for the past five days, he's literally been sitting outside of our front door after work begging for entrance. My parents and brothers who are on my side have taken in our three kids for the week. At work, I've been ignoring both him and Jake because I have no time for the two idiots.

"_Please, Linda! I was wrong. I was so wrong! You were right about everything!"_

I ignored his pleas. Each time I thought of Collin, my nerves became rankled. How could he allow Jake to use him like that? Of course, he wasn't the only one at fault, I was as well. I was so young when Collin imprinted on me—only fourteen. He was already following Jake around like a puppy dog. He had always looked up to him ever since they were kids. Angela immediately took me under her wing and I respected her. I now know why though. She had no friends within the pack. The other imprints, while they weren't rude to me, paid me no mind. Kyla and Missy, who at one point were my best friends, stopped confiding in me due to my relationship with Angela.

It didn't take long for Angela to start ordering me around. I was completely under her thumb and I allowed myself to be controlled by her. I changed my personality—trying to behave ladylike. I even married Collin as soon as I turned eighteen under her insistence. I had always wanted to go to college to be an accountant, but Angela told me that it wasn't the way of the pack. She said that the job of an imprint was to get married and make puppies so that we could have a stronger pack. So, like an idiot, I started having kids when I knew that I wasn't ready. Don't get me wrong. I love all three of my kids with my life, but I had them too young. I'm fortunate that Collin makes enough money to support the five of us comfortably. I work part time in their shop while the older kids are at school as their office manager. I take care of their ledgers since I've always been a math whiz—otherwise, Dumb and Dumber wouldn't be making a profit. They are both so bad with money. They are both miracle workers with engines, but I wonder how they even got through high school math.

Anyway, every single penny I've made has gone into a college savings fund for the kids. I refuse to have them roaming around the reservation like a bunch of mindless idiots. All of my big brothers went to college on football scholarships. They are back in La Push now and work in Forks. I have two brothers who own their own successful accounting firm and another who is a teacher and football coach at Fork's High School. All of them have offered to pay for college for me should I ever want to attend. They were really disappointed when I chose to get married and have kids instead of going to college and they haven't given up on their dreams to see me make something of myself.

I was so distracted that I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. The spaghetti noodles I had been cooking boiled over because I didn't turn the burner heat down. Some of the boiling water splashed on my hands. I let out a yelp in pain. As soon as that happened, the front door was busted down and Collin was by my side.

"Linda! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I just wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and I burnt my hand."

He walked me over to the sink and ran it under cold water. He wrapped his arms around me and I instantly felt the connection that I had been trying so hard to deny the past two weeks.

"Please, Linda. Please talk to me. I was an idiot, a shit, a prick, and everything else that you said that I was."

Alright, well, maybe I was a little harsh with my description of him.

Collin continued speaking. "I miss you. I miss the kids. Please. I promise that I won't let Jake and Angela run our lives anymore. I met Bella. She's really nice. She's nothing like Angela described. I think you'd like her. Her mouth is just as dirty as yours is."

"Now, what the fuck does her dirty mouth have to do with her personality?"

"Nothing, but you can swear up a storm in front of her and she won't say a thing. And she's sweet as pie and she can cook like no other too."

"Oh good because I fucking suck at cooking if it takes more than five ingredients."

"You're not that bad. You're way better than Rachel Black and you make great mixed drinks. I like your frozen margaritas and pina coladas."

"Great, I can have a future as a bartender," I mumbled sarcastically.

"Please, Linda, I really need to tell you what happened this weekend. Just hear me out and I'll leave if you want me to. Please?" he begged.

I sighed and motioned him to the dining table. I drained the spaghetti noodles and put out a plate in front of him and made one for myself. I placed a bowl of pasta sauce in the center so that he could help himself.

"Jake is no longer the alpha," he blurted.

"Say what?" I gasped in absolute shock.

And then he told me everything. He told me how Paul was the great protector, he told me about how Jacob tried to attack two imprints while in wolf form, and he told me of the coyotes. Then, he told me about poor Will and the culprits who attacked him. I stood up and started hollering in rage. I was so angry. It took Collin a full hour to calm me down. By then I was whimpering in his arms.

"Collin, Angela was at Leah's Pampered Chef party bragging up a storm. She said that she had to leave to get back to the kids. How the hell did Will manage to leave?"

"That's the question of the hour, isn't it? I'm sure that Child Protective Services are going to be called on them. And you and I have always known that Angela has never been mother of the year."

"It's true. She has Will babysitting Sarah, Isaac, and Becky almost every day. The poor kid wanted to join the boy scouts and she told him that there wasn't enough time in her schedule to take him there for fuck's sake. He's thirteen, Collin! Shouldn't he be allowed to be a kid?"

"I'll take care of the boy scouts. I'll mention it to Jacob, I'm sure that he'll take him. If not, I will."

And this is why I loved Collin so much. He was a good father and a good uncle. Nothing stopped him from being a great example to our kids. I decided that enough was enough. I'd let him back into the house so that we could work on our differences like mature adults. He seemed to have turned a new leaf after hearing the truth from the new alpha.

"So, did you really kick the shit out of Jacob?"

"I did, I broke a couple of his ribs."

"Good. Did anything else happen?"

"Yeah. Um, when I found out about the coyotes, I fainted while in wolf form. I have a new nickname: Fainting Wolf."

I laughed like a hyena at hearing that and snuggled into his strong arms. I knew that we'd conquer whatever crap came our way together at that point—just me and my Fainting Wolf.

**Paul's POV**

We were all gathered by the Gila River waiting for Quil and Old Quil to arrive. I was shocked at the amount of coyotes gathered. Not only was Crispy's pack here, but so were the fathers, the grandfathers, two great-grandfathers plus their mates. They had also brought their tribal shaman along. She was an older lady around Old Quil's age.

"Why are you putting shorts on?" Crispy's grandfather asked him.

"Um, we don't want to make the women uncomfortable."

"Oh, we're not uncomfortable at all," Rachel quipped. "Feel free to let it all hang loose."

There was mass giggling amongst the younger wolf and coyote wives.

"I'm sure that Bella has seen it all in her profession. I don't see why she would be uncomfortable with the male anatomy," a middle aged woman said.

"Dr. Kele, fancy seeing you here."

"Fancy seeing you here too. I didn't put two and two together with your last name. Now when are you going to quit working for Dr. Blanchard and come and work for me?"

"Um, I've got first dibs on her Jill," Randy said.

"Impossible, I've known her since she was a little girl."

"How do you know Bella, Mom?" Barry asked.

"Oh, she was a frequent visitor in my emergency room before I went into private practice. I've never known a more klutzy girl in my life. Now I run into her from time to time at the hospital and I'm still amazed that she's standing on two feet."

"You must be Barry's mother, I'm assuming," Bella said.

"Yes, I use my maiden name for my profession. Besides, I like the sound of my last name better. Tell me, Bella, is your mother still a ditz?"

"Absolutely," Bella replied with certainty.

Charlie and Billy both started chuckling in their seats. Someone had set up seating for Billy so he could rest his back because his wheelchair couldn't be brought down here.

"I still get first dibs on her, you know," Randy reiterated with a big pout. Jill just smirked at him.

"Now, why are you women so uncomfortable with the men being in their natural splendor?"

"Oh, it's not us. It's the men," Bella snitched. "They became jealous at us ogling Crispy's pack."

"Idiots. They need to take better care of their bodies. Your husband and the young one here are the only two in shape," she said, pointing to me and Brady. Man, this woman didn't mince her words at all.

She had no idea how immature the women in my pack were though. They bordered on the ridiculous. They seemed to be behaving themselves today though. I hope.

A minute later, Quil arrived in wolf form with his grandfather on his back. His eyes widened at seeing all of us.

"Quil, what's going on? You've exposed us!"

Quil lowered himself to his stomach to let his grandfather off of him. He phased back to human form, led Old Quil to us, and sat down with us.

"Billy, Charlie, what are you doing here? Who are all these people?"

"Sit down and make yourself comfortable," Billy told him. "We've got a lot to discuss. Paul, the floor is yours."

God, I'm glad that I put my shorts on. This would be embarrassing naked.

"Hello, Sir. We had you fly down here because many changes have taken place within the pack. How much do you remember about the legend of the Great Spirit Warrior?"

"Those legends are not to be repeated outside of the pack!"

"Well, the legends concern this pack as well. You happen to be sitting besides the Gila River."

Old Quil's eyes became big like saucers. "Isabella Swan Lahote! Show me your mark from the Cold One!"

Aw, hell no! He wasn't going to order my imprint around. She isn't one of his damn lackeys and neither am I.

"You will speak to my imprint with respect," I growled at the old man who looked back at me, not in fear, but with deference.

"I apologize. Isabella, would you please show me your mark from the Cold One and tell me of your experience receiving it?" he asked politely.

Everyone's eyes were on Bella who gulped before she spoke, "It was during my junior year of high school. I was dating Edward Cullen and he had taken me to watch his family play baseball high up in the Olympic Mountains. Three nomadic vampires approached us. They smelled my blood instantly. One of the men was a tracker who liked to play games. He decided to come after me. The Cullens protected me and ran to Phoenix with me. To make a long story short, the tracker was able to trick me into meeting with him alone by saying that he had my mother. He started beating on me because he liked to play with his food. It was just when he bit my wrist when the Cullens came to the rescue. Emmett and Jasper tore him apart and burned him while I was screaming in agony from the venom entering my system. Edward sucked the venom out of my wrist because he wanted me to remain human. He was able to stop the transformation from happening. After that, I was hospitalized in Phoenix until I returned home to my father's house in Forks. I dated Edward until September of that same year when he broke up with me in the forest in Forks three days after my eighteenth birthday."

"And that's when Sam found you catatonic and frostbitten?"

"Yes," Bella confirmed.

"Come here and show me the mark from the Cold One, young lady."

Bella approached him with trepidation and showed her wrist to him. He inspected it with scrutiny, touching it with his fingertips, and shuddering at the feel. The part where her mark was located was always cold and the skin was hard to the touch. He looked up at her and said, "You are a brave young lady." Then he did something completely unexpected. The old man drew Bella into a hug. "You remind me so much of my Molly. She would be your great aunt once removed. She was Quil's grandmother."

"I'm related to Bella?" Quil asked as Bella scurried back to my side. I wrapped my arms around her knowing that the proximity would calm us both down after the harrowing tale she had just told.

"Yes, you are. Your grandmother's maiden name was Molly Swan. She would be Charlie's great aunt."

"Well, shit, you learn new things each and everyday."

"Watch your language, boy! You are in the presence of ladies?"

"What ladies?"

Rachel slapped the back of his head with her hand and rolled her eyes, "Fucking idiot."

"How the hell can you call her a lady?" Quil asked.

"I wasn't talking about your imprint," Old Quil replied, then turned to me. "Paul, please tell me how you discovered the existence of our coyote brothers."

"I lost control and inadvertently phased in front of Crispy, Babs, and Bella. Crispy phased to protect our mates. After that, the secret could no longer remain disclosed. Later, Jacob told us about the legend where we would all run as one pack."

"And have Collin and Jacob accepted you as their alpha?"

"They've accepted me as their alpha and Crispy as their beta. Seth has taken on the role of beta in La Push."

"You are the Great Spirit Warrior, more powerful than Taha Aki himself. What I would like to know is, why now? And how are we to proceed?"

"I believe that I've come into power now because the Quileute Nation is in turmoil. No, there is no threat of vampires, but our nation as a whole is in danger of going under."

"How is that possible? Tony said that we're in the black with everything."

"Tony Fuller is most likely the primary culprit in the financial mess your reservation is in," Jeff said then explained what he's discovered so far in his investigation. "You need to understand that federal funding which appears on paper has seemingly disappeared. By all accounts, you should have diabetic treatment programs, sex education programs, at-risk youth programs, and drug treatment programs on your reservation, but none of these are in existence. Your school is in terrible shape, your teachers are underpaid and their licenses haven't been updated, you've been using the same textbooks for twenty years even though you've received funding to replenish them, plus your students are underperforming on standardized testing. And the reason that you're not able to get a full time physician on staff is because you're offering thirty-seven thousand dollars per annum in salary. And I'm sure you're aware of the seventy percent unemployment rate."

"Excuse me, is thirty-seven thousand per year too little for a physician?"

"The physicians in our tribal clinic make upwards of ninety-two thousand dollars a year."

"Ninety-two thousand? That's outrageous. Surely that's overpaying."

"No, times have changed. Tribal clinics must be competitive with private practices in order to bring qualified physicians in. I have my own practice and I can tell you that my physicians are making much more than ninety-two thousand dollars a year. Bella and Babs are nurse practitioners and they make over that amount."

"But this is Phoenix, not La Push."

"Susie is a registered nurse at Forks General and makes around seventy thousand dollars a year," Charlie informed him. "I think it's time that you get with the times old man. Your tribe is being run into the ground."

"Perhaps it's time that I'm enlightened, then I can discuss these matters with Tony."

"No, as tribal chief I'm giving you an order forbidding you to discuss anything that transpires at this meeting with Tony Fuller. If you refuse to do so, I'll ask the pack to hold you here and Rachel will cook for you nightly."

"I can cook for myself and my great-grandchildren. It's no problem at all. Are you sure about Tony Fuller? He's the tribal comptroller."

"Exactly, he has his nose in everyone's business. Now, let us enlighten you as to why Charlie and I are here," Billy said. "My grandson, Will, was offered drugs by several seniors at the tribal school: Kurt Fuller, Terrance Johnson, and Mark Cedro. He was beaten to the point where he had to have surgery to repair a ruptured spleen. He ran to Arizona to Paul and Bella because he didn't feel as if he could turn to anyone on the reservation."

Old Quil's eyes widened in shock. "The poor boy, is he alright?"

"Yes, he is because of Isabella and Dr. Kayani's quick intervention, but emotionally, I think he's highly distressed."

"I'm afraid that this has become a case for the Forks Police Department and the Camelback East Police Department because Will crossed state lines and went to Paul and Bella's house for help. And no, I'm not going to brush this under the rug and I won't tell you anymore about the case," Charlie informed him.

"The point we're trying to make is that our children shouldn't feel unsafe around school grounds or anywhere on the reservation. This isn't the first time this has happened. Last year, Ryan, Sammy, and your own Number Six were roughed up by the same boys. Do you see how terrible things have gotten? Our children are no longer safe. This is the primary reason why most of the pack left the reservation and I have to admit that I'm glad they did leave."

"My name is Christian Hodges, Mr. Ateara," Crispy's father introduced himself. "On behalf of the Wa-Ya Indian Nation, I'd like to take you on a tour of our reservation. Perhaps seeing a well functioning reservation will be in the best interest of you and your tribe."

"I'd like that very much. Thank you."

"We'll do the tour on Monday when all of the facilities are in operation."

"I'll take you, old man," Charlie offered.

"Now, onto our next order of business," Christian said. "We shift into our animal forms together to see if we can communicate."

The shape-shifters all stood and ran to an open area where we wouldn't harm any humans then phased. As soon as I became a wolf, I was inundated with extra voices in my head.

"_Manny! You told me that you ran my truck into a ditch when you were sixteen! You didn't mention that you and Barry pushed it into the ditch!" _Manny's father yelled.

"_Shit, Barry, you and your fucking mind. Is that the first thing that you had to think of?" _Manny chastised.

"_I was worried about our dads finding out the truth!"_

"_You idiots! Both of you! What the hell were you two doing pushing Gordon's truck into a ditch?"_

"_We were testing our strength, Dad!" _Barry replied fearfully.

"_Manny, Barry, I can't believe that you guys took a brand new truck and pushed it into a ditch," _Jared said.

"_I'm sure you guys did stupid things when you were teenagers."_

"_Not really, we were chasing after bloodsuckers when we were teenagers. None of us had a chance to be idiots and by the time we got rid of them, most of us were on the verge of being parents so we had to buckle down and work."_

"_You know, it's very interesting how five packs have now combined,"_ Crispy's great-grandfather Olsen said. The guy must have been pushing ninety at least.

"_I'm ninety-five,"_ he replied.

"_And you can still phase?" _

"_I phase every week with Roy here, this is the first time I've been able to hear my son, my grandson, or my great-grandson though. I do believe that we need to discuss this with the two shamans because this is a first for me."_

"_I think it's safe to say that Paul is alpha and Crispy is beta,"_ Jeff's great-grandfather Roy said. _"By the way, I'm still young. I'm onl_y ninety-two."

My pack, the wolves, were standing around completely flummoxed at the thought of two ninety somethings phasing. Hell, I was flabbergasted at the thought of the five seventy something year old grandfathers phasing. Gee whiz.

All of a sudden, the twelve older coyotes pledged their allegiance to me and I felt tied to each and every one of them. They had just acknowledged me as their alpha and, suddenly, I realized that I was now responsible for seventeen coyotes and nine wolves. How on earth did this happen?

"_There is no answer to that question, son,"_ Roy said. _"You can ponder that question your entire life and still come up empty headed. Be grateful that, for whatever reason, someone up there thought that you were the most capable of holding us all together."_

"_Maybe, it'll be good for us to have a bunch of wise old men in the pack," _I thought.

"_Who the hell are you calling old, boy?"_

"_Sorry, phase back!" _I ordered quickly. Shit, I didn't need an ass whooping from a bunch of grandpas and great-grandpas.

We ran back to where everyone else was sitting. I sat and pulled Bella into my arms.

"Well?" Charlie asked.

"We were all able to communicate."

"Well, of course you were able to. The legend says that the Great Protector will befriend a spirit warrior from the land of the Cina Ahuwipi. Together they will form an alliance with the people of the Cina Ahuwipi. They will run together as a pack, and protect their tribes and mates from those that threaten to harm them. The god of the underworld will release the Cina Ahuwipi people from their servitude, to be watched over by Taha Aki forevermore. The moment this happens, they will be able to feel and speak with each other as one," Old Quil said.

"Perhaps, you and our shaman, Tolinka Whitefoot, can discuss this further," Crispy's father suggested.

"Hello, I'm Quil Ateara the Third." Old Quil held his hand out to Tolinka Whitefoot. He looked completely googly-eyed and lovestruck. Quil was nudging me from the side staring at me with an incredulous expression on his face. "You have a beautiful name. What does Tolinka mean?"

"A coyote's flapping ear in Miwok," she replied.

Huh? Did she say a coyote's flapping ear? Bella stiffened in my arms and she looked as if she were about to burst out laughing. She was holding onto my arm for dear life and her eyes were as wide as saucers. Rachel was worse, she bit down on Quil's arm to stifle her laughter causing him to yelp.

"That's, that's...hilarious! It makes sense doesn't it? You must have been named by an ancestor preceding you that knew that you would learn of the coyote pack eventually. But it's a beautiful sounding name—just don't tell anyone what it means." None of us had ever seen Old Quil this at ease. This was his true personality and I now knew where Quil got his forthright personality from. It was from his grandfather.

"Your honesty is refreshing. Most people don't say anything out of fear of insulting me. They think I'll lash out at them and perform a shamanistic curse on them. It was my father who named me."

"When did he pass on?"

"He's playing poker with his friends at his house and taking them for everything that they have."

"Oh, okay."

"I believe we have some research to do," Tolinka said, then turned to me. "You need to go home and see the reservation with your own eyes."

"To La Push?"

"Yes, and take your mate with you. She will help you see things through her eyes. She's very insightful."

"I am?" Bella asked.

"Of course you are. You guessed that Jacob was a wolf simply from hearing one legend that you were told before you knew that vampires existed," Billy said.

"True."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"No, but we will consult with the spirits to try to get some answers. Worse comes to worse, we'll have my father assist," Tolinka said.

"Exactly how old is your father?"

"Eighty-six, he's as sharp as ever though."

**XOXO**

The meeting broke up and we all headed our separate ways. I took Charlie and Billy out to dinner at Morton's with Bella and me. There was no way in hell that we were cooking this evening and I needed red meat to keep me going.

We were waiting on our dinners to be served when Billy said, "Paul, you do realize that you are now a tribal elder since you are alpha, don't you?"

"Come again?"

"You heard me, the only reason why I didn't give Jacob the responsibility is because I felt he wasn't responsible enough. Eventually, you will be chief."

"Pardon me?" I don't want to be chief. This guy has lost all of his marbles.

"Paul, you've proven yourself to be capable and responsible. Look at the life that you've built for yourself. You did that out of nothing. You had nothing, but a drunk mother and a drug-addicted criminal father to call your own and you were able to overcome all of that and prove yourself worthy. This is why you're alpha. This is why you will be chief."

"I can't move back to La Push, Billy."

"And who said that you had to? Times are changing. Don't you have meetings using the computer? What are they called? Video conferencing or something?"

"Yeah."

"Paul, you're the only one capable enough to lead La Push out of it's slump."

What about Quil or Seth?"

"No, Quil and Seth will be elders eventually but you are the only one that will be chief. Don't worry, I have to die first and with Bells and Dr. Kayani keeping an eye on me, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, but I need to start grooming you."

"What about Jacob?"

"Since you refuse to punish him for his actions against Bella and Kim, I've decided that he will not be awarded the Black seat on the council. That honor will go to one of my grandchildren, most likely William because Number Six will eventually take Quil's seat."

"And Rachel?"

"Too much of a conflict of interest. We can't have both Quil and Rachel as elders."

"Can I think about it?"

"Hell, no! Man up, son!" Charlie ordered. "You know damn well that what Billy is saying is right. Without you, the tribe will go under. You can handle this. And you will, I have faith in you."

Aw, man, Charlie was taking his firm but caring father tone with me. I can never say no to him.

"Okay, Billy, how do we do this?"

"Obviously we wait until the Fuller mess is taken care of, but from that point on you'll be listed as an elder. When you come to La Push to visit, I'm going to start showing you the ropes though."

"Bella, what do you think?"

"I don't think that you can refuse the responsibility, Paul. Billy's right, you are the only one that can pull the Quileute Nation out of their slump. When we eventually have a baby, you want him to be proud of his tribe."

Our steaks were brought out to us right then. Charlie and Billy both dug in appreciatively.

"Man, I wish we had steakhouses like this in Forks," Charlie commented.

"I wish your wife would cook something other than fish," Billy added.

"Yeah, but then she'll tell us that we can't fish anymore," Charlie pointed out. "So, when are you kids coming home?"

"Um, we haven't exactly discussed that yet. I'm flying to Washington next week."

"What about over Thanksgiving or Christmas?"

"Um, sure."

"Great, you let me know when and I'll tell Susie."

"It'll most likely be over Thanksgiving, Dad," Bella said. "Paul and I were toying with the idea of going to London over Christmas."

_We were? _ Bella gave me a warning look. "Yeah, that's right. If all goes well in Washington, we're going to London over Christmas."

"Now what exactly are you doing in Washington?" Billy inquired.

"I need final approval from the Senate Finance Committee for the highway restoration project."

"So, you're meeting with senators?"

"Yeah, I've done it once before, but since the project has expanded to include several states, I need to meet with them again for approval."

"I'm telling you, Paul, ten years ago, I could have never pictured you meeting with senators. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Billy."

"You're welcome. You've worked hard and your achievements are well deserved."

Dad confirmed Billy's words with a wink.

It meant a lot to me to hear that, especially coming from Billy. He doesn't give praises too easily.

_**One week later...**_

**Bella's POV**

"So, tell me, why are we at the mall on a Sunday afternoon?" I asked Kim and Emily.

"I told you, Sammy and Ryan are here meeting girls. Girls! They're only high school freshmen!" Emily spat.

"Are you telling me that we're here to spy on Sammy and Ryan?" Babs asked.

"Yes."

"Well, why the hell did you let them go if you didn't approve of them meeting up with girls?"

"We didn't want to seem like prudes," Kim commented. "Oh my God! There they are. Hide!"

We dove into a store and watched them. They were in a group of six girls and five boys. I doubted there was anything nefarious going on. By the looks of it, it seemed as if the boys were following the girls.

"Hello, ladies, please tell me that you four beauties are here to sign up," a voice called from behind us.

"For what?" Kim asked.

"You're in the Armed Forces recruiting office."

"Oh, no, we're sorry. My son is out with...girls." Kim shuddered after saying the last word.

"How old is your son because you look too young and beautiful to have a son old enough to be out with girls."

Kim blushed. "He's fourteen. He's a freshman in high school."

"Well here, take this brochure. The guard is a great way to pay for college. Are you sure you don't want to sign up?"

"No, I have six kids."

The recruiter's eyes bulged out. "You sure are beautiful for someone with six kids."

"Oh, well..." Kim started getting all giddy at the compliment.

"Now, what are your names?"

"I'm Kim, this is Emily, Bella, and Babs."

"Well, nice to meet you. I'm Ryder."

"Oh, I love 'R' names," Kim gushed. She was clearly infatuated with the guy. Well, he was kind of toned and good looking.

"How much is that t-shirt?" Babs asked noticing the cool Army shirt on the wall.

"Oh, that's an incentive. We give them away to kids who walk in here and give us fifty or more push-ups."

"That's all?"

"Yeah, can you handle it?"

Babs and I looked at each other, hit the floor, and started doing push-ups. The recruiter started counting off.

When we hit fifty, another recruiter walked out of the office and said, "Keep going, I'll give you both Marine Corps t-shirts if you hit a hundred."

So neither of us stopped. Babs was my workout buddy. One more guy came out. "The winner gets a Navy sweatshirt and an Air Force hat as well."

Now the two of us were competing and neither of us were on the verge of stopping. My arms were burning but there was no way in hell that I was going to lose. I kept my mind on the prize and kept pushing through the pain. Babs finally called it quits at two hundred seventy-eight. I kept going until I hit an even three hundred."

"You bitch!" Babs chuckled.

"Damn! I've never seen women as crazy as the two of you before. Are you sure you don't want to sign up with one of us? We could use women like you to defend the country."

"Sorry, we're both nurses," Babs said.

"We can use nurses in the military. Well, here, since you both did so well, we're giving you both the whole shebang, but you get an Army water bottle as well."

"Aw, thanks guys," I said.

Ryder gave Kim and Emily both Army t-shirts just for looking pretty.

"Thank you, come and see us anytime. That was more excitement than we've ever had in a single day."

We waved goodbye and left the office. Kim and Emily were staring at us with aghast expressions on their faces.

"I can't believe that you guys did pushups for t-shirts!" Emily said.

"Hey, they were cute and they were free. Besides, you two scored t-shirts just for standing there and looking pretty. We had to earn ours."

"Oh my God. The Marine recruiter put his name, cell phone number, and a note that says, 'Call me' on his business card." Babs was staring at the card with a stunned expression on her face.

"Well, you are a pretty lady and the Marine was hot."

"Do you really think so? I thought the Air Force recruiter was gorgeous," Emily said.

"Nah uh, it's the Army guy all the way. He said that I was hot."

"Oh, he liked you, Kim. He couldn't take his eyes off of you the whole time. You've still got the goods!" I exclaimed.

"We all do ladies. We also have insanely jealous mates," Babs reminded us.

"Yeah, we'd better get rid of these business cards."

"I need something to drink," Babs said. She stopped at a smoothie stand and got each of us a smoothie. We sat and enjoyed them for a bit before we walked through the mall again, perusing the stores. We were in American Eagle when suddenly, the boys walked in with their posse.

"Mom!" Sammy spat horrified at Emily.

"Oh, hi honey, Aunty Kim, Aunty Bella, Aunty Babs and I were just shopping.

"Which one is Aunty Bella?" a boy asked.

Suddenly, I was surrounded by five boys all of whom were bringing out their best moves.

"I'm Greg."

"Ah, I have your picture. Thank you."

Another boy walked up to Babs. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"I'm Babs and I'm at least twice your age."

"It's okay, I'm not afraid of older women."

"Okay, Sammy, here's fifty dollars—why don't you and your friends go and get a little treat on me."

"Really, Aunty Bella?"

"Yes, really, now go. Your mother, aunties, and I are having some girl time."

"Cool! Thanks!" Sammy and Ryan both gave me big hugs. Then the other three boys did the same.

I saw them all hightailing it to the food court.

"Well, we're done here now. Seeing you and Babs seems to have made them forget about those girls."

"Huh? You're right." I noticed that all of the girls had been abandoned and they were going in a different direction.

"You know what's funny? The boys got all excited and forgot about the female sex at the mention of food," Kim laughed. "They're just like their fathers."

We walked by the food court and the five boys were all eating huge lunches completely oblivious to any girls around them.

Around six pm, we headed home. Paul was in Washington and wasn't due back until tomorrow night. I missed him like crazy. He's been gone since Thursday and it was the longest I'd been apart from him. My father and Billy had started making their way home on Friday along with Will. They were driving the Escalade home and taking the scenic route home. William cried like crazy when he had to leave, he wanted to stay in Phoenix with Kim and Jared. They even called Jacob and Angela and offered to take Will in, but they declined the invitation. Even Billy was encouraging Jacob to let Will stay in Phoenix, but apparently Angela put her foot down.

I decided to hit the sack around nine pm so I could feel refreshed in the morning. It had been a ridiculous couple of weeks and I truly needed the rest. As soon as I got under the covers, my eyes closed on their own, and I nodded off into dreamland.

**Linda's a pretty cool gal, isn't she? Fainting Wolf isn't too bad either, is he? What are your thoughts on Old Quil? Did you like the coyote dads, grandpas, and great-grandpas? Do you think Billy is right in saying that Paul must eventually become tribal chief? How about Kim and Emily spying on their sons at the mall? Have any of you moms of teenagers done that before? And your thoughts on the two psycho women competing for military logo freebies? Let me know your thoughts and I'll get back to you. XOXO mama4dukes**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you for your wonderful reviews, I truly appreciate how so many of you take the time to chime in with your thoughts. I apologize for the long wait. Stress, dissatisfaction with one of my stories, a busy schedule, all contributed to my inability to write. And just when I was getting back into the groove of things, I found that one of my stories was lifted and posted onto another site again. This is twice in a month and it was frustrating to say the least. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your patience. Without further ado, I present to you, the sixteenth chapter of Intensity.**

**This story is AU/OOC**

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only.**

**Paul's POV**

The meetings in Washington were done and Crispy and I were able to procure the full approval of the Senate Finance Committee. Our flight had just arrived in Phoenix and we were on our way to meet our wives at our favorite Mexican restaurant to celebrate. Since we got there a bit early, we decided to wait for Babs and Bella at the bar. There were four military guys having drinks at the bar as well.

Ten minutes later, the girls walked in. They both waved to us and...what the hell? _How come those military dudes are waving to our wives? _

One of the men, a Marine, I think, walked up to Babs. "Hey, Bella, Babs, where are Emily and Kim tonight?"

_Why the fuck do they know our wives' names?_

"Oh, they're at home with their kids."

"So do you girls come here often?"

"From time to time."

"Why don't you join us for drinks?"

"I'm afraid we can't. We're meeting our husbands for dinner."

"I told you they were married," a guy in an army uniform said. "Women that look like them don't stay single for long."

Meanwhile Crispy and I were both becoming red in the face. "Crispy, I think your ears are becoming pointy. Do they do that when you become upset?"

"Maybe, I don't know," he grunted.

I decided to approach my wife. I kissed her full on the lips and greeted, "Hey, baby. I missed you."

"Well, we'll see you ladies later," the Marine slinked away in defeat. _That's right, bucko, stay away from our women!_

"Bye, guys," Bella chirped.

"Um, tell Kim that I said hello," the Army guy said before he rejoined his buddies.

We went to take our seats in the dining room.

"Alright, who are those guys and how do they know your names?" Crispy huffed at Babs.

"Jealous?" Babs asked.

"Hell, yeah, I'm jealous. I'm gone for almost five days and all of a sudden these young military guys know your names. Where the hell did you meet them and what kind of shenanigans were you, Bella, Kim, and Emily up to while we were gone?"

Bella and Babs both started giggling.

"Well?" I asked, furiously.

"Oh, Paul, I've never seen you so unhinged," Bella said. "It's actually a pretty funny story. We were dragged to the mall by Kim and Emily because they wanted to follow Ryan and Sammy who were out with a group of friends which included some girls. They were coming towards us so we dove into the first store we saw, it turned out to be an Armed Forces recruiting office. Babs here saw a t-shirt that she liked and asked the recruiter how much it was. He told us that it was an incentive that he gave away for free to people just for walking into the office and doing fifty or more push-ups. So, since we both liked the t-shirt, we got down on the floor and pumped out push-ups."

"You're kidding me? All for a t-shirt?"

"Nope, Babs and I ended up coming out with an Army t-shirt, a Marine Corps t-shirt, a hooded Navy sweatshirt, and an Air Force cap."

"Bella also got a stainless steel water bottle that says Army on it because she's such a bitch," Babs added.

"You're just mad because I won."

"Of course I'm mad! Your wife is psychotic, Paul. She did three hundred push-ups in front of those guys."

"Three hundred? How many did you do Babs?"

"Two hundred seventy-eight."

Crispy's and my eyes bulged. "Why did you girls do so many?"

"Oh, well, they kept adding on more freebies and they turned it into a competition. You know how we get at the gym."

"Yeah, insane," Crispy chuckled.

"More like psycho," I added.

"You know the worst part about it is that Emily and Kim got free t-shirts just for standing there and looking pretty. You should have seen Kim, she was blushing and getting all giddy because Ryder, the Army recruiter told her she was beautiful."

"Oh, I liked it when she gushed to him, 'I love R names.'"

We were all howling by the end of the conversation.

"Here's the kicker," Babs said. "The t-shirts and sweatshirts are all sized men's extra large so they don't even fit me and Bella. You boys just scored a whole bunch of new shirts."

"Thank you for your hard work, ladies. How are your arms feeling by the way?" I asked.

"Like rubber," Bella laughed. "I'm never doing that again."

"Neither am I," Babs agreed.

"Never say never, girls."

"You know, you still have to get us Coast Guard t-shirts." Crispy arched an eyebrow at the girls. "I know where their recruitment office is."

"Um, you can go get them yourself. I couldn't even bring myself to go to the gym today. I went for a massage at the Thai massage parlor in the mall."

"Oh, I went there once, Babs. How are you feeling?" Bella asked.

"Like I was put through the wringer. I have to go get another massage to get over the massage."

"Why? Are they that bad?" Crispy questioned with concern for his wife.

"No, they're not bad. It's a different style of massage. You two might actually like it. They stretch your body out along with the massage and they walk on your back and manipulate your body into strange positions. It was just overkill for me."

"We should go give it a try Crisp," I suggested.

"Yeah, maybe during lunch sometime this week."

"Seriously, it might work for you two because you're shape-shifters. I just needed pampering for my arms and shoulders—not sheer, brute force."

_**Two hours later...**_

"I need you, baby," I whispered into my imprint's ear. We had just pulled into the garage of our house and my wolf was going crazy. Being away from Bella for five days was just too long. I pulled her onto my lap before she could leave the truck and started kissing her.

"Paul..."

"Shh...I need you right here, right now. I can't wait any longer."

"Paul, our bedr..."

I kissed her on the lips and worked on undressing her. I had my slacks off in a flash, my cock hard and ready for her. Bella didn't waste any time. She straddled my lap and sunk down on me instantly. I moaned at the sensation. With each rise and fall of her body, the need to claim her increased. The sight of her naked breasts in front of me brought me to a heightened state of arousal. She placed her palms on my knees and arched her back as she continued riding my cock. My mouth fell on her left breast and gently sucked in her nipples.

"Aaahh..." she panted as I moved on to her right breast.

She quickened her motions and arched into me as I started thrusting my cock into her from beneath her. I was close—so close, and so was my imprint. And suddenly, I felt her exploding all over my cock. Unable to hold out any longer, I blasted inside of her and bit down on her neck. "Paul!" she screamed in ecstasy.

I released my teeth from her neck and looked deeply into her eyes. "I love you, Bella."

"I love you."

"Are you ready for some more?"

"More?"

"Oh, yeah, we're going all night long, baby."

Her mouth formed into an 'O' shape and her eyes widened. I chuckled at the shocked look on her face and carried her out of the truck. Of course, in the heat of the moment I forgot that my pants were pooled at my feet with my shoes still on so naturally I dropped her as I fell to the floor of the garage as I tried to get out of the truck.

"Welcome home, Paul," Bella laughed at my predicament. And I couldn't help but laugh right along with us both sprawled on the garage floor like we were.

_**Thanksgiving weekend...**_

_**La Push, Washington**_

I pulled the rental car up in front of Charlie and Sue's house in La Push. I kissed Bella on the lips and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yes, I just can't believe I'm back here to stay for a few days voluntarily."

It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we were in Washington visiting the family. I recalled my last foray back to La Push during the summer when I was dragged here in handcuffs. I had to eat and sleep in the La Push jail for forty-eight hours because Tony Fuller had me arrested. Of course, the food wasn't bad. An angry Sue and Leah kept me constantly fed with homemade food and Emily kept sending me a never-ending supply of muffins. During the day, the pack would come and visit me and we'd play poker. Charlie even showed up, sat with me in the cell, and we'd practice aiming a golf ball into a coffee using putters. Actually, it was more like a mini-vacation for me, when I think about it. Sue had even brought a comfortable rollaway with brand new sheets and a Temper Pedic pillow to the jail for me.

"Just four nights and we're leaving. Besides, Tolinka said that we needed to return here. I still can't believe that she and Old Quil are dating."

"It's kind of romantic."

"Do you think they're having sex?"

"Paul, you're killing the romance."

"I'm just saying..."

I kissed her one more time and we got out of our car. I pulled our luggage out of the trunk and rang their doorbell. Sue answered the door, hugged us both, and invited us in.

"Oh, I missed you kids. How was your flight?"

"Not bad at all. We were on the same flight as Embry and Jess. They're staying with Jess's parents. Apparently, we're all invited to Mr. Stanley's house for a Texas style barbeque on Friday."

"That's nice of them. I'm actually excited. I've only met Jess's parents in passing."

"Where's Dad?" Bella asked.

"At work, he'll be home later. He's trying to catch up on some work he missed while in Arizona. Well, come on. I'll show you to your room."

She led us to Leah's old room and gave us some time to freshen up. When I went to wash my face, there was no hot water to speak of.

"Mom, are there any repairs on the house that need to be done?" I asked after I went downstairs.

"I'm so happy that you asked. Here's a wrench. Dad tried to install a new water heater when our old one finally died."

"Say no more, I'm on it." I went straight to work then my jaw dropped in shock. He had the damn thing held together with duct tape. I went to the garage and rifled through Charlie's tools. I couldn't find the right type of wrench. I called Embry up and explained my predicament. He drove over with his father-in-law's tools and helped me install it properly. He and I both took a photo of the duct taped water heater with our iPhones because it was something that you had to see to believe.

"I'm going to do a quick check of the wiring in this house just in case," he said.

"Don't you need to get back to your family?"

"Honestly, I'd rather stay here. Jess's mom yammers on and fusses more than she does."

"Understood. I might as well do a run through of the house too."

The house wasn't too bad. Jared, Sam, and Brady did a great job fixing it up. I checked the exterior and the foundation and siding were in good condition. The windows needed to be replaced but I planned on hiring an outside company to do that. All in all, I was satisfied with the house's condition. I hopped onto the roof to give it a good look and my eyes bulged out. There was a section of shingles secured onto the roof by my father-in-law's favorite adhesive: duct tape. I sat on the roof staring at it in disbelief.

"Hey, Paul? Are you okay up there?" Embry called from down below.

"You've got to see this man."

Embry climbed onto the roof and started laughing. He took his iPhone out and snapped a photo. "Now this is art. Charlie should teach a class and call it the Art of Duct Taping."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to believe the same thing myself."

"You know, this roof looks like it needs to be replaced. You should hire a couple of guys from the res to do the work. I know a few unemployed carpenters and construction workers that would kill for a few bucks."

"Good idea."

"How does it feel to be back?"

"It's been so long since I've really been back. I don't know how I feel yet."

We heard Charlie's cruiser pull to a stop. He got out and looked up on the roof. "What the hell are you two doing up on my roof?"

"Duct tape, Dad?"

"Oh, do I need to reinforce the shingles again?" He reached into his cruiser and tossed a roll of duct tape up on the roof to me. "It's great stuff isn't it? I always carry a roll with me. You can buy them in bulk at Costco over in Sequim. They come in handy. Last month, I was able to repair the ceiling fan in our room with duct tape."

"I didn't see that," Embry whispered to me. "Let me go and take a look at it before the whole house catches on fire."

Between Charlie's duct tape and Bella's school glue, I had no idea what to think anymore about the Swans and their odd way of repairing things.

**XOXO**

Billy wheeled himself over to Charlie and Sue's house around dinner time. He only lived two houses down and with his new fitness regimen in place, he liked the exercise. Sue prepared salmon for dinner to which both Charlie and Billy groaned.

"Stop fishing if you're so sick of salmon," Sue chastised.

"I can't believe that you'd actually try to take away one of our physical activities, Susie. Besides, Bella and Paul can take home some fish with them."

"We'd actually welcome that and I'm sure Embry and Jess wouldn't mind taking home some fish as well. You can't get good seafood in Arizona."

"Oh good, I'll pack a cooler for each family. We have fish coming out of our ears."

"Okay, Paul, since you're sitting here with two elders, we're going to be tackling our first order of tribal business."

"Now?"

"Yes, now. Charlie and Bella can feel free to chime in with their opinions as well. Josh Uley will be stopping by in a few minutes. We've made a few changes since we've been back and we have Sue in charge of matters that have to do with the clinic and public health, Josh is in charge of the tribal school and education, and I'm handling all matters of public works which include water, sewerage, trash, recycling, the La Push tribal police and fire departments, street repairs, home maintenance, etc."

"Does Tony Fuller know about this?"

"He does and he's unhappy about it, but we told him that he has enough on his plate as comptroller."

"What's Old Quil's job?"

"When the horny bastard gets back from Arizona, he'll be in charge of all matters related to maintaining Quileute culture. It's a BIA requirement to have someone in charge of these matters. I have to tell you, I've learned a ton from your friend, Jeff."

"Yeah, he's a good guy."

"How are you, Paul?" Sam's father, Josh, walked into Sue's house carrying some sort of pie. "This is from Alison, it's a Lemon-Lime Chiffon Pie for us to eat while we talk."

"I'll put on some coffee," Sue said.

"Um, no, Susie. Paul will do that. Did you bring the goods?" Charlie asked.

"Yep, ten pounds of Pike's Place Roast and ten pounds of Extra Bold."

"Charlie! Are you out of your mind? Did you make our son-in-law bring twenty pounds of coffee from Arizona?"

"I sure did and I'm not ashamed to admit that I can't live without my son's coffee. He doesn't use that generic crap that you use. My boy uses Starbucks."

"Actually, I prefer Dunkin' Donuts on some days," Bella said.

"That's blasphemy, Bella," I chastised. "Anyway, Mom, I picked up the coffee at the original Starbucks in Seattle on the way here so really it was no trouble at all."

A few minutes later, the coffee was brewing and we were all settled in.

"First of all, Paul, I'd like to thank you for what you did for my son. I truly appreciate all of the help you gave, him, Emily, and the kids."

"It was no problem. Sam's like a brother to me and he's a welcome addition to my team."

"Thank you, it means a lot to me coming from you." Josh suddenly seemed to realize that Bella was there. "I'm sorry, how rude of me. I'm Joshua Uley, Samuel's father."

"I'm Isabella Swan Lahote. It's a pleasure to meet you. Sammy talks about you all the time."

"And he talks about you," he chuckled. "I heard about what you and Paul did for him and Ryan."

"What happened?" Mom asked.

"Oh, Bella and I caught Sammy and Ryan cutting school. They were walking along the street drinking iced coffees. Ryan actually tried to tell me that the principal didn't have time to get his own coffee so he sent them out for some."

"Oh, the audacity!" Sue and everyone else was laughing.

"Anyway, we hauled them both into the principal's office and now the pair of them are helping to renovate the school gym on Saturdays along with a handful of other kids who cut school. Sam, Jared, and I are supervising the project and my company is underwriting it."

"We need that sort of thing in our school. I've been doing some research and it seems that bullying is a major issue at the tribal school. Some gangs have been formed and drugs are becoming more and more prevalent. The school is unsafe and we need security measures put into place. I also received this letter from the Department of Education." Josh placed a letter in front of me. The school is in danger of losing it's accreditation unless we get a three year improvement plan in place. Standardized test scores must see yearly improvement and the teachers must be up to date on their continuing education credits and their licenses. The only problem is that Fuller claims that there are no funds for this project."

Damn, my first day of tribal elder training and I'm hit with this whammy. Gee whiz.

"Okay, you need to explain to me how the school is funded. I'm going to have to consult with my attorney. He used to work for the Department of Education in Phoenix so he's well versed in this sort of thing."

"Are you talking about Crispy?" Billy asked.

"Yeah."

"That's a good idea. Josh, Crispy is the new beta of the pack. He's a coyote from the Wa-Ya Reservation, the one that I explained to you and Susie about."

"Well, that will help matters."

"Yes, it will."

"I'm also going to contact Jeff Redbird, he's my friend in the BIA, the one that shut down the tribal government this summer. I'm going to see about making sure that any and all federal funds earmarked for the tribe are sent to Billy via secure courier. I don't want Fuller having any access to anything."

"Paul? Can't Lahote Engineering Design and Construction underwrite a grant? We have ten million earmarked for charity this year. Of that, we've given away six point eight million so far this year. We have five hundred thousand going to Toys for Tots and another five hundred thousand dollars going to the Salvation Army on December 1st which leaves us with two point two million dollars of available funds."

"That's an idea, we have to get rid of that money before the end of the year and what better way than to support my own reservation."

Josh Uley looked like his head was going to spin off. "You must be very successful, Paul."

"I do okay." I shrugged my shoulders.

"Pfft," Charlie smirked and rolled his eyes.

"The grant is a great idea Bella because I can set it up so that the company pays the source directly rather than sending a check to Fuller. I'll get my charity coordinators working on it on Monday."

"That's me and his secretary," Bella chuckled. "It won't be a problem, but we need to set up a charitable foundation before Paul and I leave for Phoenix and we'll make it so that the funds can target education and health care. I'm not sure if we'll be able to fund anything to do with public works since there are certain guidelines that need to be followed."

"That's very generous of you. Are you sure that you want to do this for us, Paul?" Billy asked.

"It's a cause that means a lot to me and Bella both. That's all that matters. I think the grant will get us started in putting the reservation back together."

"Alright, well, thank you, Paul. Sam and Billy were right, you are the only one worthy of being alpha and our eventual chief. If possible, I'd like for you to tour both the school and the tribal clinic before you leave. I want to make sure that both buildings are structurally fine. Sam and Jared had both been keeping an eye on the buildings for us, but they haven't been looked over since their move in July."

"Sure, maybe on Friday?"

"That sounds great."

Billy and Josh both left after that, leaving Bella and me alone with Dad and Mom. It was funny how easily I took to calling Charlie and Sue, Dad and Mom. It was probably because they were as close to real parents that I've ever had. My own parents didn't have an ounce of love in them. Well, maybe my mother had a little but her mind was too warped by the abuse she took from my old man and the alcohol she consumed to make her forget.

"Alright, time for bed kids."

"But it's only nine pm," I argued.

"You and I are getting up at four am, it's time you learned how to fish, son."

"Huh?"

Bella and I scurried off to our room. "What the hell am I supposed to wear fishing, Bells?" I asked.

"Erm, hmm..." Bella rifled through the suitcase. "Jeans?"

"And?"

"Oh, I know." Bella fired up her laptop and googled up a Brad Paisley music video for the song, 'I'm Gonna Miss Her.'

"Bella? How the hell is a country song gonna help?"

"It's about a bunch of guys who choose fishing over their wives. There's fishing in the video."

We watched the video. "Bella, I don't think this is the way real fishermen dress. Besides, I don't own a flannel shirt, a cowboy hat, or cowboy boots."

"Oh, but you'd look really hot dressed like that."

"Yeah? Do you think I should get my cowboy on?"

"Definitely. You'd look sexy. Of course I always think you're sexy," she purred, the scent of her arousal wafting to my nostrils.

That did it, I had her on the bed and in my arms in seconds. The fishing trip all but forgotten.

At four am sharp, I was dressed in jeans, sneakers, the Army t-shirt and Navy sweatshirt that Bella won doing push-ups as well as the Air Force hat. That was about as close to cowboy as I could get.

Dad and Billy met me along with Seth as well as Leah's husband, Eric and his son Harry, Jr. We picked up Willy along the way too. He tackled me and gave me a big hug as soon as he saw me.

Dad maneuvered the fishing boat to what he called a good spot. Within five minutes, everyone had cast their lines into the water, even the little kids. Willy and Harry, Jr. did their best to show me what to do before Dad took over.

"Uncle Billy? Are you sure Uncle Paul is from the area cause I don't know anyone that can't fish at his age," Harry Jr. commented.

"He is pretty bad, isn't he? Even Aunty Bella is better than he is."

"Bella can fish?" I asked.

"Of course she can, what the hell do you think we did with her and Jacob when she visited over the summers. She can hunt too," Dad said.

"She can hunt? With guns?"

"Yep, she has really good aim. I taught her myself before I got stuck in this chair," Billy informed me.

Somehow, I couldn't picture my wife fishing or hunting. I thought about last night, why the hell did she want me to dress up like a cowboy? If she's been fishing with Billy and Dad, she should know what to wear. I took in everyone's attire, they were all dressed in jeans, flannel shirts, fishing vests, and work boots. Of course, I didn't own any of the stuff except for jeans and my work boots were at home. She just wanted to get me naked! That's it...that's...that's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome. My wife wanted me naked!

"Come on, Paul. You can do it. Bend at the elbow and throw that line forward," Dad instructed.

I did as he instructed. I bent my arm at the elbow and threw the line forward, putting my body into it. Suddenly, I found my body hurtling forward, and I plunged head first into the water.

"Man overboard!" Seth yelled laughing. In fact, they were all laughing.

I swam back to the boat and I was pulled back on board. "You cast with your arm not with your entire body," Eric instructed.

"Yeah, I think I just figured that part out." Fortunately, I'm a wolf so the cold water was refreshing.

A few hours later, we returned to the house for Thanksgiving dinner. Willy had to go home because Jake and Angela were having dinner at her parents' house in Forks.

When we got home, Bella, Leah, Kyla, and Sue were all cooking. I could smell everything from roast turkey to pumpkin pie and my stomach started growling. I noticed that, in addition to Harry, Jr., there were two little kids, two toddlers, and an infant in the living room. They were Seth's kids and Leah's kids. Gee whiz, suddenly I realized that I was an uncle.

"Eric! Get the baby. She needs her diaper changed," Leah yelled.

"I'm on it!"

"Seth, Melia needs..."

"I've got her!"

"Boys, go into the game room and play Wii or something. We don't need you running around while we're cooking," Sue called.

"Okay," I said.

"Not you, Paul! The little kids. You're watching the game with the men."

"Oh, okay. Um, I'm gonna take a shower."

"You do that."

Four hours later, we were crashed out in front of the TV. Seth, Leah, and I polished off a twenty-four pound turkey by ourselves. Thank God, Sue roasted two turkeys. Since, we've been phasing regularly recently, we've all noticed that our appetites have increased significantly again. Another thing that we've noticed is that the guys in my pack that were out of shape were quickly getting into shape again. And all of our libidos have increased, this included both the wolves and the coyotes. Randy was keeping track of the changes in our bodies.

Around eight pm, Bella and I drove to Leah's house in Forks along with Leah, Eric, Seth, and Kyla. Sue and Charlie took the seven grandkids in for the night, including the baby, in order to give the parents a break. I packed a small backpack and loaded it into our rental with a change of clothes. There was no way in hell that I was staying in a house with seven kids, nah-uh, my patience was running thin as it was anyway. Bella kept having to reassure me that she was keeping up with her birth control.

About five minutes after we arrived at Leah's house, which was Charlie's old house, Collin and Linda showed up. Linda was carrying a large paper grocery bag while Collin had three cases of beer with him.

Linda was the first to speak. "Are you Bella?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"Oh! It's so nice to meet you!" she ran up to Bella and gave her a hug. "Do you like margaritas?"

"I love margaritas."

"Come on, we're making margaritas." Bella, Leah, and Kyla followed Linda into the kitchen.

Gee whiz, I don't remember Linda being this perky. Of course, I think she was still in middle school or just starting high school when I saw her last.

"She's been excited to meet Bella for a while now," Collin explained. "How are you, Paul?"

"Great, how are things with you?"

"Excellent, we're all happy and reconnected. I'm speaking about me, Linda, and the kids, of course."

I glanced towards the kitchen and saw that Linda was busy pouring the ingredients for frozen margaritas into a blender. She looked like she genuinely wanted to become friends with Bella.

The guys and I decided to play some poker. A half an hour later, Embry and Jess showed up with more drinks and something that smelled phenomenal.

"Jess's dad smoked some ribs for us, guys. Dig in!"

"Hallelujah! Man, these are juicy!" I commented.

"I'm telling you, we need to add a smoker to your outdoor kitchen, Paul."

"Yeah, maybe when we get back, we can..."

"Embry! Paul!" Bella and Jess both scolded.

"It was just a suggestion."

"How was Thanksgiving Dinner for you guys?"

"Great, the food was fantastic, the company was phenomenal, then Jake and fucking Angela stopped by and ruined it all. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mind Jake at all, but I was ready to hurl Angela's pompous ass out of the house. I actually felt bad for Jake."

"Why did they stop by at Jess's parents' house?"

"Apparently, Angela wanted to reconnect with her 'best friend' from high school."

The girls sat with us with their drinks. "She actually asked me if I wanted to go to the beauty salon with her tomorrow. I told her that we had plans. Then my clueless mother invited them over to have dinner when you all come over tomorrow night for the barbeque. Jacob accepted, but she suddenly thought of some plans that she had forgotten about as soon as she heard that Bella was coming," Jess explained.

"Bella? Can you stay here because you seem to be an effective Angela repellent," Linda said. "Oh, fuck the margaritas. Let's do shots! All of this talking about Angela is making my fucking head spin."

"Sorry," Collin said apologetically. "Linda has a mouth on her. She has three older brothers."

"I'm not bothered, I'm used to it. I have Bells and Jess around me all the time."

"Hey, I'm not that bad, I just have a dirty mind," Jess said. "Speaking of which, tell me about those recruiters that Kim was gushing about."

"Oh, you mean Ryder the Army recruiter?"

Bella retold the story about the t-shirts.

"Seriously, Bella? Three hundred push-ups?"

"I know, I was on a mission. There was no way that I was letting Babs win."

"I'll take you on, Bella," Linda said. That's when I noticed that Collin's wife was in top shape. Actually, she was in phenomenal shape.

"Huh?"

"No, no, no. I want to see if you can outdo me with the push ups," Leah smirked.

"That's not fair, you're a wolf."

"Oh, let's do it, Bella. Let's see if we can beat Leah," Linda said. The girl was drunk. I saw her knock back three shots since she came to sit with us.

"Fine, we'll give it a whirl."

"You girls are nuts," I said as the three girls started pumping away.

At around two hundred, Embry gasped, "Jesus! Aren't you girls tired yet?"

Bella had her face in sheer concentration and ignored him. Linda was keeping right up with Bella which was impressive because my girl was in top shape. Leah actually puttered out first at three hundred sixteen, then Bella at three hundred forty-three, and Linda finally gave way at three hundred sixty-one.

"Oh my fucking arms!" Bella groaned and giggled simultaneously. "How come you're in such good shape, Linda?"

"My brothers all played football and they had to work out. They'd have to bring me with them because they had to babysit me so I've been working out with weights since I was nine years old alongside my brothers. I still work out with them."

"Damn, I'm out of shape. I was just bested by two human girls," Leah laughed. "Ouch!"

All three women were rubbing their arms in pain. "You know what really sucks is that we don't even get any free t-shirts."

We laughed and joked around. Somehow they managed to convince all of us guys to do push ups too. Eric bowed out gracefully saying that he wasn't stupid enough to go up against shape-shifters. I won at twelve hundred push-ups but Seth was really close at eleven hundred eighty-eight. Collin gave out at nine hundred sixty and Embry ran out of steam at six hundred four.

"When we get back, we're challenging Quil," he declared. "I just need to bump up my workout a little more first. He's been hitting the gym religiously because of Crispy's beta order."

All in all, we had a pretty good Thanksgiving night. Bella and I stayed overnight at Leah and Eric's house in her old room. We woke up early in the morning, thanked Leah and Eric for their hospitality, and had breakfast at the diner in Forks. Afterwards, we headed back to La Push where I met with Josh Uley to tour the reservation and check out the structural viability of all of the buildings. The school and the clinic were fairly well maintained. Both building needed new roofs though. I did a cursory glance at the exterior of many of the homes and they were in poor condition. I told Josh about how Jeff had told me about all of the maintenance requests that had not been fulfilled. He was shocked at the figures that I gave him.

"We need to find out where all of the money is going. We're looking for any information on Tony Fuller."

"Oh, yeah, come with me. We're going to walk by his house."

We arrived at an extremely, well maintained house with a white picket fence. It was the largest house on the reservation. There was a Mercedes, a BMW, and three fairly new pick-up trucks parked in front. "Those trucks belong to Tony's kids."

"That pisses me off. Brady drives a ten year old Honda Civic and works his ass off to support his family. Missy drives a twelve year old Dodge Caravan. How is Fuller coming up with the cash?"

"That's what I'd like to know. I think the key is to look into his wife's business in Forks. I know that Tony does all of her accounting."

Six houses down was Jared and Kim's old house. It was decently maintained because of Jared, but you could see where he had to jimmy things because he had run out of funds to do the repair. I walked inside with Josh and it was completely dilapidated. How they managed to raise five kids in a two bedroom house, I had no idea. My respect for him and Kim went up tenfold.

"Thanks for taking me on the tour, Josh."

"No problem. Thank you for everything. Honestly, Paul, I've known you since you were a kid and I really thought that you were going nowhere in life, but you've proven me wrong. You singlehandedly managed to get your pack brothers out of their rut and you didn't give them any sort of handout either. You even helped my brother Tom and his family. He has a lot of fine things to say about you. I know I'm not your father in any way, shape, or form, but for a while there I was the only male role model in your life. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, Josh. And I'll never forget about all of those times that you and Alison fed me because my mom couldn't."

"It wasn't just us that looked after you, Paul. The Camerons, the Atearas, the Clearwaters, and the Blacks all knew that you needed to be taken care of back then. We did what we could. I also know that Charlie Swan was always looking out for you in his own way whenever you raised hell in Forks."

"Well, you all did a great job. I guess you could say that I was raised by the entire village."

"Yes, you were, but the growing up part you did on your own."

"Come on, Alison wants to feed you lunch. I think she made beef stew for you."

"Beef stew? Oh, yeah, I'm there."

I thought about Josh's words. He was right, these families—all Quileute's and residents of La Push, made sure that I was at least fed and clothed as a kid. For their sake, I owed a lot to the reservation. La Push didn't give me a miserable childhood, my good for nothing parents did. My anger had been completely misplaced. I owed these families my life. I owed my tribe my life.

**What did you think of Paul's exploits in the garage? _Thump! _How about Daddy Swan and his adventures with duct tape? Did you like Fainting Wolf's imprint and her push-ups? Do you like how Billy has started training Paul to eventually take over as chief? What did you think of the discrepancies between Fuller's house and Jared's old one? Did you like Paul's realization at the end? The next few chapters will bring a ton of information to light as Paul's visit to La Push continues. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter and I'll be sure to get back to you with a reply. XOXO mama4dukes**


	17. Chapter 17

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Paul's POV**

After a hearty lunch of beef stew, I made my way back to Billy's house. I needed to speak to him. I found Bella in the kitchen cooking up a storm with Billy sitting at the kitchen table attempting to chop onions without tearing up. All of Jake's children were in the house. Most of them glued to Bella's side as she attempted to keep them busy with cooking chores.

"Uncle Paul!" Willy ran up to me and jumped up into my arms for a hug. All of the other kids, most of whom I've never met did the same. "Aunty Bella is teaching us how to make homemade chocolate chip cookies. Our mom always buys Chips Ahoy."

"So, that's why your grandfather is chopping up onions?"

"Nope, Bells is making some dishes for me to freeze. That way, all I have to do is throw one into the microwave to heat up at mealtime," Billy replied.

"You still need to eat those packaged salads though!" Bella yelled from the kitchen.

"Don't worry, Aunty Bella, I'll make sure that Grandpa has at least a salad a day."

"The same goes for you, too, Willy."

"I don't like salad."

"Tough, you'll learn to like it. Raw vegetables are good for you. Besides, there are starving kids in Africa that would kill for a cucumber."

"Better listen to your Aunty," Billy said. "You don't want to get stuck in a chair like me because you didn't eat right. You're my namesake, William, I need you to make me proud."

"Okay, Grandpa."

"Aunty Bella, can we make some extra cookies for my friend, Brian Longtree? They never have enough food; the last time I slept over at their house, we had to split a can of Spaghetti O's between him, his brother, and me."

"Willy, does this happen often," I asked, concerned. A can of Spaghetti O's wasn't enough for three growing boys.

"Yeah, his father and mother are both out of work so they don't have much money for food."

Bella sent me a look of concern. I knew the Longtrees, I graduated from the tribal school with both Rick and Mary. I saw that Billy had a concerned expression on his face as well.

"How about we make them a big tray of lasagna?" Bella suggested. "Billy, we'll need more onions."

"I'm on it. Will, why don't you play some Wii with your brothers and sisters? I think Aunty Bella will be able to cook faster with them out of the way."

"Sure, Grandpa." Will took his siblings to Jake's old room, giving the adults a chance to talk.

"A can of Spaghetti O's between three boys is not enough," I commented. "What happened to Rick and Mary?"

"Not enough work in the area," Billy replied. "I didn't think they were that hard up though. Those kids must be starving."

"What does Rick do for work?"

"He's a carpenter. He's too proud to accept help from anyone. He won't even go to the food pantry."

"Charlie's house has a ton of work that needs to be done. I'll bring over the lasagna and ask him to do some work on it. Do you have work that needs to be done on your house?"

"Jake's been keeping up with it as best he could."

"I'll do a run through and if anything needs to be done, I'll have Rick do it."

"Paul, I don't exactly have the money to..."

"I'm going to pay for it and don't look at it as charity either. I want you to look at it as you doing the Longtrees a favor. You don't want their kids to go hungry, do you?"

"I swear, Paul, only you would be able to convince me to go with your plan. You know how I hate accepting help."

"I'm not helping you. You're helping me help the Longtrees."

"Alright, thanks for helping an old man."

"You're not that old."

"If you say so, Paul."

"Why do you have Jake's kids?"

"Oh, Jake's working and Angela is in Seattle at the Black Friday sales."

"She couldn't spend one day with the kids on their vacation?"

"Angela never spends time with the kids. She generally just dumps them off here or elsewhere."

"Nice," I replied sarcastically.

"She's a bitch," Billy spat. "She's a horrid mother and she has my son wrapped around her pinky. I wish that Jake was more self-assured like you are so he could tell her off once in a while."

"He'll get there. Eventually her selfish ways will catch up to her."

"So, what are you here to talk to me about? I know that you didn't just stop by for nothing, Paul."

"I toured the reservation and I have one thing to ask, what the hell happened? The houses are dilapidated, the roads are screwed up, how did it get to this point?"

"You know how it got to that point, it was Fuller. I can tell you that all of the requests were put in and on paper it looks like the work was done, but you know as well as I do that nothing was done about it. It's hard for me to get around in this wheelchair. If I could at least drive around the reservation, I could do more investigating. As it stands now, I have to rely on Charlie, Sue, and Josh to drive me around."

This got me to thinking. The wheels in my brain were turning at a hundred miles per hour. I had an idea, but I needed to talk to Bella first.

Three hours later, Bella was done cooking and the two of us were driving to the Longtree residence to deliver a tray of lasagna, a plate of cookies, and ten bags of groceries from the tribal store. I didn't give a shit about them not liking to accept charity, there was no way in hell that I was going to let growing children starve to death. I remembered being dirt poor growing up, but at least my mother applied for food stamps, hit the food pantry, and made sure that someone fed me if she was too drunk to cook.

"Paul Lahote, you're a sight for sore eyes," Rick greeted at the door.

"How are you, man? This is my wife, Bella."

"Hello, gorgeous." He winked at my imprint. Rick always was a charmer.

"Hello to you, too," she replied.

"So what brings you to my house?"

"I'm going to get straight to the point. I heard you're looking for work and I've got a job for you."

"For me? I ain't moving to Arizona."

"Actually, I need to hire you to fix up my in-law's house and the Chief's house."

His eyes bulged. "Is this for real?"

"Yeah, it's for real."

"Your in-laws are Chief Swan and Sue Clearwater, right?"

"That's right. They need a new roof and that's just the start. If you can get together a crew, I can pay you all. I'd do the work myself, but I have to get back to Phoenix after the weekend and I've got stuff I need to do here. There simply isn't enough time."

"Shit, Jason and Chris are desperate for work too."

"Get them over here now, let me talk to them."

"Sure, I'll run over to their houses now. You can wait inside."

"Can't you call them?"

"No, my phone was shut off." He looked down at his feet.

"Hey, I understand. You remember how it was for me growing up." Rick's mother was one of the women that used to take me in and feed me.

"Yeah, I do. Just...uh...wait in the house. Mary is at her mom's with the kids. Make yourselves at home."

As soon as he left, Bella and I took the opportunity to load up their refrigerator with the groceries. I caught sight of his light and phone bill on the counter. I took down the account information and made a mental note to pay those for him, he didn't have to know it was me who paid the bills. I snapped photos of them with my iPhone so I had all of the account information.

Rick returned a few minutes later with Jason and Chris. I told them about the extensive amount of work that needed to be done on both homes.

"Are you sure you can afford it? We charge ten bucks an hour each. With three of us working, it'll be thirty bucks an hour for you. We'll try to work as fast as we can, but you're talking about two whole new roofs and brand new windows for two houses."

"Don't worry about it, besides, you're underselling yourselves at ten bucks an hour each. Carpentry takes skill. I'll pay you each five grand up front and ten when you finish. I'll also arrange it so that the supplies are billed to me directly from Forks City Hardware.

I wasn't overpaying them at all. It was a fair price for two roofs and brand new windows for both houses. In fact, I was getting a bargain. They were severely selling themselves short.

"But that's forty-five grand?" Jason burst.

"And that's a fair price for roofs and windows on two homes. Trust me, I'm in the field, I know."

"We'll take the job, of course. Thank you."

"You're welcome. We have to get going now. Maybe we can get together for some drinks or something over the weekend. It would be great to catch up with you guys."

"Sure, that would be nice," Rick said.

"Alright, I'll stop by again with checks before Sunday."

"Thanks, Paul."

"Don't mention it," I said. "Oh, and my wife and Willy Black made a tray of lasagna and some cookies for your kids."

"You didn't have to do that," Rick said.

"Oh, well, we'd made a bit too much so Will suggested dropping it off here for his buddy, Brian," Bella said

"Will's a good kid. He and Brian get along well. They like to play chess together."

"I'm glad that Willy has a good friend. He needs one."

"Same with Brian. They're both great kids.y8"

With that, Bella and I darted out of there before Rick discovered his packed refrigerator. I drove off of the reservation to Port Angeles.

"Now, why the heck are we in PA?" Bella asked.

I wanted to talk to you about something. I have an idea, but I want your opinion.

"Okay, shoot."

"I want to buy a van for Billy. A conversion van, one that someone with limited mobility can drive."

"That's a hefty purchase. I don't mind—it's a drop in the bucket for us, but will he accept the gift?"

"I'm not going to give him a choice. I'll tell him it's for the good of the tribe."

"Alright and what about car insurance and all of those other etceteras that come along with vehicle ownership, like gas."

"Let me worry about that, Bella. I can be really crafty if need be. But the fact is, the current chief of the Quileute tribe needs a vehicle because without him keeping an eye on things, the infrastructure is falling to pieces. Jake can maintain the vehicle and I'll pay for Billy's insurance and gas. I won't let him say no."

"You know what I can't understand?"

"What?"

"If Jake can purchase a goddamned Volvo for Angela, he can easily afford a conversion van for his father."

"I was talking to Billy earlier and he mentioned that Jake has absolutely no control over Angela. It's like Angela has taken the whole thing about the wolf being whatever the imprint needs to a new level."

"Damn, hey, you never said that you would be whatever I needed." She crossed her arms in front of her and pouted.

"Yeah, I did. I told you that I'll be whatever you need me to be; that I just needed to have you in my life."

"Meh, maybe you did. Who cares. You're everything I need and more."

"And the same goes for you, baby." I pulled up at Wilder Auto. "Let's do this."

We hopped out of our rental and the salespeople flocked to us instantly. I didn't want to deal with any of them, just the general manager, so I pulled out my Paul Lahote, businessman persona and demanded that I speak to him. He came rushing out immediately. I could be extremely intimidating when I wanted to be. I explained our necessity for a handicapped accessible ramp van with hand controls. He explained that the hand controls were called electronic mobility controls. He showed me pictures on the internet of Toyota, Dodge, and Honda vans that could be converted.

"Which one has the least amount of mechanical problems?" I asked.

"I'd say the Toyota and Honda are neck and neck. We don't get many engine problems with those. The Dodge is about ten thousand dollars cheaper though."

"Alright, does the driver need a special license to operate the vehicle? I mean, with all of these controls, I'm going to assume that he's going to need to re-learn how to drive."

"Yes, we're fortunate that the Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialists offers classes at Forks Community Hospital about twice a year. I believe there's one coming up in January. There's a fee for the class, of course."

"Alright, how long does it take for one of these vans to be delivered?"

"Well, it takes the manufacturer, Braun Enterprises about three to four weeks to convert a van depending on the specs you request. After that, it takes them a week or two to deliver it to us."

"What do you think, Bella?"

"I think we should do it."

"Okay, the wife says yes and she's the final word. What kind of deal are you willing to give me?" I asked the manager with a raised eyebrow.

"I can give you a deal on the base cost of the vehicle. I can't do a thing about the conversion fees, those are set in stone. I can also tell you that, right now, Toyota has better deals going than Honda."

"Let's negotiate then."

After working out a fair deal and arranging the van as a surprise to Billy with Charlie as the sole contact person, we left the dealership. We drove straight to Forks Community Hospital to sign Billy up for the driving class—again, with only Charlie as a contact. After that, we drove to the police station to talk to dad.

"I agree with you Paul. I think the van is a great idea. It'll improve Billy's quality of life tenfold. He can be stubborn as all hell though. Let me handle talking to him. I'll do it right around Christmas and tell him it's a gift from you kids. I'll make sure to take him to the driving class too," Dad assured me. "So, we're going to the Stanley's tonight, huh?"

"Yeah, according to Embry, we're going to be having some killer barbeque."

"Great, I'm looking forward to it. I'll stop at Fork's Outfitters and pick up a case of beer to bring over. I'm going to be tied up here for a couple of more hours, would you two mind bringing Sue along with you? That way, I won't have to haul ass back to La Push to grab her."

"No problem, Dad."

"Good."

_**The next morning...**_

Last night, we had the most cumworthy barbeque in the world. Mr. Stanley gave Embry and me the ins and outs of smoking ribs and both of us wanted to make a beeline home to get started on smoking our own ribs. At this point, I didn't give a crap what my wife said, I was getting a smoker as soon as we returned to Phoenix. I'll just have to have it installed while she's at work, that way she won't make me take it back. I knew that Embry was thinking along the same lines as I was because he kept talking about some store in Phoenix that he found that specialized in high end barbeque equipment. Yeah, we'd be taking a trip there together during our lunch break when we got back home.

Right now, Bella and I were going for a run around the reservation. It occurred to us that we'd been pigging out since Wednesday night without getting a lick of exercise in. It was just before six am and the sun was just coming up. I was jogging at a slow pace next to my imprint, I couldn't exactly go at full speed if I wanted to run with her. We were approaching Tony Fuller's house when I heard something with my enhanced wolf hearing. I grabbed Bella, clasped my hand over her mouth, and carried her to the woods behind Fuller's house motioning with a single finger over my lips that she needed to remain silent. She nodded her head in understanding. She couldn't hear anything from this distance, but I could hear every word loud and clear with my wolf hearing.

"_So, what? Are you trying to tell me the baby is mine?"_

"_Of course, it's yours, Kurt. I've never slept with anyone else."_

"_So, you say."_

"_What are you saying?_" the girl sobbed.

"_I'm saying that you're lying. There's no way in hell to prove that the kid is mine."_

"_Please, Kurt."_

"_Get the fuck out of here, you ho. I'm through with your ass anyway. Who knows how many guys you've opened your legs to?"_

"_I'm only a sophomore in high school. My parents will kill me. There was only you. You told me that you loved me."_

"_And you believed me?"_ Kurt Fuller let out a sinister chuckle. _"You'd better not go spreading around __rumors that I'm your baby's daddy, my father is a tribal elder. I can make life hell for you and your __family."_ I heard the asshole snigger. _"You're just like your brother, Jared and that ho-bag, Kim, __popping out babies left and right."_

Motherfucker. This must be Jared's youngest sister, Jenny. When I left La Push, she was barely a toddler. It dawned upon me that this mess had officially become pack business. Kurt Fuller and Jenny Cameron were both gene carriers, meaning the baby would be a double gene carrier. Fuck me.

I went back to listening to the conversation. Jenny was bawling her eyes out. I suddenly heard a loud crash and a bang. _"Get the fuck out of here, you slut!" _Kurt yelled.

I bolted to the front of the house. Kurt was hovering over Jenny who was on the ground, curled up in a ball, nursing her face.

"Step away from the girl before I show you the true meaning of pain," I growled.

"Who the fuck are you? Do you know who my father is?"

"I don't give a rat's ass who your father is. This is just me dealing with you. Now, step away from the girl!"

He did, but not before kicking her. Bella, who had witnessed the whole scene, marched up to him and clocked the asshole in the jaw. "Didn't your daddy ever teach you manners? Boys should never hit girls."

Kurt Fuller's face twisted in rage. He lifted his hand up to slap Bella. I grabbed hold of it before he could make a move. "Get the hell out of my sight. You'll be hearing from the Camerons."

With a fearful look, the thug bolted into his house. I picked Jenny Cameron up and walked with her to Charlie and Sue's. She was still sobbing when I placed her on the sofa. Bella grabbed her medical bag so she could check the girl out.

She had a bloody nose and a black eye. The poor thing. Sue came rushing out of her bedroom at that moment. "Jenny? Oh my God, Jenny? What happened?"

I pulled Sue into the kitchen and gave her a brief rundown of what I overheard.

"Oh, Taha Aki. How the hell are we going to deal with this mess, Paul?"

"What the fuck am I supposed to say to Jared? He's going to murder Kurt Fuller."

"Jesus Christ, you're right. Alright, pack meeting with everyone that's here in La Push later, after Billy and Dad get back."

"Shouldn't we call the tribal police?" I asked. "I mean, this is assault and battery."

"Just wait, your father is trying to wrap up the case involving Willy. Let him handle it."

"Okay."

"I'm going to make some breakfast for everyone. It looks like Bella is doing a good job handling Jenny."

And she certainly was. Jenny Cameron was pouring her heart out to Bella while she patched her up. As she was in capable hands, I called the pack members that were in La Push and told them to expect a meeting this evening. Naturally, they all asked for the gist of what happened so I explained. Surprisingly, Jake was the first one to rush over. After taking one look at Jenny's face, he started shaking in rage. I had to drag him out to the back and phase with him.

"_What the fuck, Paul? First Willy and now Jenny? She's a little girl! I remember when she was just born. How could that turd do this to her?"_

"_Jacob, calm down! We need to figure shit out before Jenny Cameron becomes a statistic and drops out of high school. And we need to think of a way to break this to Jared."_

"_Break what to me?"_

Jake and I stared at each other. Jared had suddenly phased in from Phoenix. Neither of us could help, but run what I had just witnessed through our brains. Jared let out a gut wrenching howl.

"_Jared, I'm ordering you to stay in Phoenix! Jacob! Phase out and call Crispy now!"_

As Jacob left the scene, the wolves and coyotes in Arizona, as well as the ones in Washington suddenly phased in.

"_What the hell is going on?"_ Randall asked. Jared was running what I had seen and heard on rewind through his brain. _"Oh, man, that's harsh."_

"_I'm gonna kick the shit out of my kid brother!" _Brady seethed.

"_Brady, don't you dare move! That's a fucking order! That goes for you, too, Jared!" _Crispy commanded, his betaorder taking over Brady's and Jared's bodies.

"_Hey, why are you all phased in?" _I asked, completely perplexed because I knew that Jacob didn't have time to call anyone yet.

"_Dunno, we just felt like we had to," _Seth explained.

"_Oh, there you are, Crispy, I just left a message on your cell phone. How did you know to phase?" _Jacob asked as he phased back in.

"_It's our magic, coyote magic, we feel it in our veins when one of our brothers or imprints are in trouble. It's like a homing beacon calling us,"_ Crispy explained.

"_Well, that sure is handy. So, we have some of your magic now too?"_

"_It looks like it."_

"_I can't believe he said those things to her and hit her," _Sam growled.

"_That's assault and battery,"_ Barry stated. _"You need to call the cops."_

"_It happened on the res. It would be the tribal police handling it."_

"_Shit! Tony Fuller has Terrance Johnson in his pocket! If his son is involved, he'll wield the system to __go his way!"_ Collin snapped.

"_Hang on, what do you mean by Fuller has Johnson in his pocket?"_

"_Dude, haven't you noticed that Johnson is living a pretty decent life for a tribal police chief?"_

"_No, I don't even know where Johnson lives."_

"_Christ, Paul, what the hell have you been doing in La Push? You need to find some dirt on Fuller,"_ Jeff said. _"Oh, and Jacob! Now do you believe me when I said that there's shit going on with Fuller?"_

"_Hey, I believed you once my son was hurt, it's my fucking imprint that has a stick up her ass!"_

Jacob ran thoughts of his frustrating conversations with Angela through his brain.

"_After all that Will went through, she's still siding with Fuller?"_ I asked incredulously.

"_Yeah, some mother she is, huh?"_

"_I'm sorry, Jake. I don't know what kind of control Fuller has on Angela, but it's abnormal."_

"_Paul, talk to my parents. Reason with them. I want Jenny to come and live with me in Phoenix. She won't make it in La Push and you know it. If she comes here, I can take care of her and Kim can watch the baby while she goes to school."_

"_Shouldn't you discuss it with Kim first?"_ Randall suggested wisely. _"You're already bursting out of the seams at your house. Jenny and the baby would add two more mouths for you to feed."_

"_I know, but I can handle it. I'll get a second job if I have to."_

"_Jared, I'm ordering you to discuss it with Kim and get back to me." _He was being stubborn and he needed to be alpha ordered. Jared was making decisions without taking the consequences into consideration again. He needed to sit down and have a heart to heart with his imprint before making any rash decisions.

"_Paul, you can't give me an alpha order when it comes to my family, I..."_

"_He damn well can!"_ Manny interrupted. _"This affects everyone, Jared—not just you. We're a family, not a pack, and we're all worried about Jenny. Sure, most of us don't know her, but she's your little sister and that makes her family. But, you need to think before acting because if you don't discuss this __with Kim, this will affect your relationship with your imprint more than you can imagine. And that will affect all of us."_

"_Go and talk to her, Jared,"_ Jake said. _"We'll keep an eye on Jenny and you know that, even after Paul __and Embry return to Phoenix, the rest of us will keep an eye on her."_

"_Fine,"_ Jared huffed and, abruptly, phased out.

"_I'll keep an eye on him," _Sam said.

"_So will I,"_ Manny assured. _"I didn't mean to be hard on him."_

"_You were just stating the honest truth and, sometimes, that can be hard to handle."_

"_Yeah, I just hate seeing anyone down, you know."_

"_Hey, how about we all stop by at Jared's with some beer tonight?" _ Randy suggested. _"He's going to need us. Brady, how are you holding up?"_

"_I'm fine, but I can't help but feel responsible because my kid brother is such a shit."_

"_It's not your fault, man. Only he can be responsible for his own actions, and he'll be reaping the consequences for his behavior."_

And that's why our pack—no, family, in Arizona was strong. We all cared about each other's well being. If one brother was down, we'd make sure to prop him back up.

"_You've got that right,"_ Crispy murmured his agreement, reading my thoughts.

We talked for a bit more. Apparently, Old Quil was having the time of his life in Phoenix. Quil had a bit of a scare yesterday morning when he knocked on his grandfather's door and was greeted by the sounds of Tolinka moaning in passion.

"_Man, I don't think he's ever going to leave. Rachel's pissed off at me. At least Tolinka's been cooking and I haven't been subjected to too dry chicken and soppy lettuce,"_ he tried to reason. _"Did you have some of Mr. Stanley's barbeque?"_

"_Oh, hell, yeah. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. The man can grill like no other." _I showed everyone images of the smoked ribs.

"_I don't give a damn what Jess and Bella says, we're getting smokers for our outdoor kitchen and for mine, Paul," _Embry piped in.

"_Shoot, let me know when the two of you go to the grill store, I'm coming with you guys," _Crispy said.

"_You guys do realize that Manny and I both have smokers in our backyards, don't you?" _Randy informed us.

"_Um, have you always had one?" _Embry asked.

"_Yeah, we're both married to women who run their own catering companies. Mina just had a tandoori oven installed in ours."_

"_A tandoori oven? What the hell for?"_

"_Hell if I know, I only care about what comes out of it and, so far, it's been good." _Randy ran through memories of a seriously delicious looking plate of chicken that made my stomach growl.

"_Alright, I'm phasing out. I'm ravenous," _I told them. _"Let me know if things get out of hand with Jared and Brady. We'll handle the Jenny situation here."_

With that, I phased back to human form and got redressed. Jake phased back as well. He put his hand on my shoulder to stop me from walking inside.

"I want you to know that I'll keep an eye on Jenny after you leave. You have my word."

"I know you will, Jake."

"It's just that...it's...well...I know that it's going to take time for me to earn everyone's trust back, but I want you to know that I'll work hard at earning their trust back. The sanctity of the tribe and the pack is of utmost importance for me. And so is the well being of my kids." I noticed that he neglected to mention Angela's name.

"Jake, are you okay?" I asked, looking at his forlorn face.

He looked as if he wanted to say something to me, but looked down at his toes instead. "I'll be fine. I just have a lot of personal crap going on in my life."

"I know we've never been close, Jake, but I'm here for you—not only as your alpha, but as your friend. If you ever need to talk, I'm just a phone call away."

"Thanks, it means a lot to me."

I nodded my head, acknowledging him. I noticed that he was stark naked and remembered that he phased out of his shorts.

"Let me get you something to wear," I said.

"Nah, it's okay. I've got to get back to my kids. Angela is still away and Willy and Sarah are keeping an eye on the two little ones for a few minutes. I'll just run home through the woods."

"Alright, Jake. I'll see you."

"See you later, Paul." He flashed me his trademark grin and took off. It was the first time that I noticed that the former alpha of the pack wasn't happy. He hid behind his friendly personality, but inside the guy was falling apart. He wasn't anything like me, I let all of my frustrations out in one go when I needed to, but Jacob seemed the type to hold all of his shit inside. I made a mental note to check in on him more often as I made my way into the house.

Sue held two fingers up to her lips as soon as she saw me. "Take her to Seth's old room," she whispered. "She fell asleep crying."

I picked Jenny up from the sofa where she was sleeping with her head on Bella's lap and placed her on Seth's bed before closing the door and walking out to the dining table where Sue had a full spread prepared. I dug appreciatively into the omelet that she placed in front of me.

"This is a serious situation," Sue started. "That baby is a double gene carrier. Jenny is only fifteen years old, simply too young to do this on her own. The Camerons will, of course, support her in every way possible, I have no doubt about that, but they're having a tough time making ends meet as it is. Both parents work and if we don't want Jenny to drop out of school, she'll need a babysitter. There's also the stigma that she'll have to endure from being a pregnant teenager."

"God damn it!" I raged. "When is the fucking cycle ever going to end on this reservation? My generation spawned a ton of pregnant teenagers and so did my parents' generation. It hasn't stopped and without education, it won't stop."

"Paul, calm down," my imprint said. "You, as future tribal elder have already realized that this is a major issue. This is a good thing. Your job now is to figure out a means to an end. You can't solve it all in one day. This is a huge issue and it's not just this reservation that suffers from this dilemma. There are others around the country as well. Our first priority now is to think of a way to help the pregnant child in the other room. And yes, she is still a child. She may have the capacity to become pregnant, but at fifteen she is still a child. That's why we need to figure out a solution."

"You're right." I sighed, looking into Bella's eyes, hoping that she could calm me down with just one look. It worked, of course. It always worked. My imprint understood what I needed. Just looking into her eyes brought me security because I knew that she was the one constant in my life whose support would always be unwavering.

**Jared's POV **

"What's wrong, honey?" Kim asked as I walked into our house. She had a worried expression on her face and I knew...I knew that she felt my pain.

"I phased."

"Yes, I know. You told me that you were going for a run. What happened when you phased? Did you see something that you didn't like?"

I burst out into tears. I couldn't stop them from falling. My little sister...how could this happen to her? She was only a year older than Ryan.

Alarmed, Kim came to my side and wrapped her arms around me. She'd never seen me so unhinged. She mustered up all of her strength, then whispered, "Tell me."

"It's Jenny."

"What happened to her?"

I told her everything that Paul and Bella had witnessed. I didn't leave one detail out.

"My God," she gasped. "What can we do to help her?"

"I was thinking that she could come here and live with us. She can go to school and you can watch her baby."

"Can I think about it?"

I was stunned by her reply. I thought for sure that my imprint of all people would welcome my baby sister into our house.

"Think about it? Kim, this is Jenny we're talking about."

"I'm sorry, Jared, but I'd like to think about it. I didn't say no. I just need to think about it."

"Why?"

"Why? Jared, we have six kids. Six. Jenny and the baby would make eight. If we want Ryan to go to college then I need to go back to some sort of tech school so that I can get a career. I care about Jenny, I really do, but I'm not willing to take her in at the expense of our children. I'm sorry if you think that I'm being selfish, but you and I are finally getting on our feet. We can't just jump the gun and make such a huge life-altering decision."

"I thought you'd understand because you've been through it yourself."

"Yes, I do understand, but do you want to be the one to tell Ryan that we don't have enough money to send him to college because we took Jenny and her baby in?"

I stormed out of the room in anger because I knew that Kim was right and I hated being wrong. Our kids had to take precedence in this matter. Jenny, like it or not, was my parent's responsibility—not mine. I just wished there was something that I could do to help her. I was roused out of my thoughts at the sound of Riley crying. I bolted to his crib to pick him up and soothe him. He just needed a diaper change. As soon as he had a fresh diaper on, he looked into my eyes and started giggling.

"What are you laughing at, Rye?" I asked. "Do you think Daddy looks funny when he's throwing a tantrum? Yeah, I know I do."

I sat on the rocking chair, picked up a book, and read to him. It was amazing what he could do to keep me calm. I caught sight of Kim watching me from the doorway.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"We'll figure something out," she replied calmly. "I love you."

"And I love you."

Our little moment was interrupted by the sounds of the rest of the kids waking up.

"I'd better start on breakfast," Kim sighed.

"Let me just get Riley set up in the bouncy chair. I'll give you a hand." I heard my oldest, Ryan, dart into the bathroom and hop into the shower. "Good morning to you, too, son!" I called after him.

Forty minutes later, Kim and I were almost done getting breakfast prepared for our huge family. "Is he still in the shower?" I asked, realizing that the water was still running and Ryan hadn't come out yet. "Hang on, didn't he take a shower last night as well?"

"That's something that I wanted to bring up with you. He takes two to three showers a day, long ones. And, I swear, he's running through all of the shampoo like it's water. If it weren't for the Dollar Store, we'd have no shampoo to speak of."

"Well, what the hell is he doing in there anyway?"

"Jared, what do teenage boys do in the shower?" Kim asked with a smirk on her face. "Think back to when you were fourteen."

It occurred to me exactly what he was doing in there. Still, we had a big family and he couldn't be spending all of his time in there. I decided to get him out of the shower. I stood up, went to the bathroom, and pounded on the door. "Hey, Spanky, quit playing with yourself and running through all of the hot water! This ain't the Holiday Inn!"

I walked back to Kim with a satisfied smile on my face. She looked like a pit bull ready to pounce.

"Did you have to be so insensitive?" she asked.

"Best to nip these things in the bud quickly."

"You're going to make him develop an unhealthy attitude about sex. What if he becomes one of those closet perverts because of how you handled this situation?"

"He'll bounce back, boys are resilient."

Ryan came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his torso, looking catatonic.

"Did you enjoy yourself in the shower, son?" I asked with a grin.

He turned beet red in the face and bolted into the bedroom. Kim hit me over the head with a spatula.

"Fix it and be sensitive for once."

"Kim, he's a boy. He'll get over it."

"Jared!"

"Fine, fine, I'm going in." I opened the door to the room he shared with his brothers. "Take a hike boys." Rusty and Roy both scampered out at my command. I shut the door and pulled a chair up. "Let's talk."

"Dad, this is embarrassing. I really don't have anything to discuss with you."

"Yeah, you do. Do you have any questions that you want to ask me about...um...growing up?"

"Not really."

"Listen, I know that when you're fourteen years old, you have a lot of...uh...you think about chicks a lot. And sometimes you feel the need to...uh...express those feelings."

"Dad, just call it what it is...jerking off."

"Okay, you were in the shower...um...doing..." God, why can't I talk about this with my son? I tried again. "You were...jer...doing that and I was insensitive and I just wanted to apologize."

"Thanks."

I thought about my little sister and realized that this was the perfect opportunity for me to have the talk with him. "Son, we need to talk. Now that you're doing...uh...that, you're probably thinking about sex."

"Dad, I'm only fourteen, I'm not going to have sex!"

"I should hope not, but we need to talk about sex because you never know when it's going to happen. I hope that when you finally do have sex it's with someone you love and you've discussed everything thoroughly."

"Dad, is this 'the talk'? Because, if it is, Aunty Bella already talked to me about it during my last physical."

"Aunty Bella did?"

"Yeah, and we talked about it during health class too."

"Oh, cool." Phew! I was getting really uncomfortable. Thank God we live in a town with a progressive school system. "Well, do you have any questions?" Ryan looked away from me. "What is it son? You can ask me anything."

"Why weren't you and mom careful?" _That certainly wasn't the question I was expecting. No, not at all._

"Why do you ask?"

"It's just that you and mom are way younger than other parents and well, you made a mistake with me, but you didn't stop. You didn't learn from your mistake."

And now I was completely floored. I didn't realize my son felt this way. I needed him to know that I loved him, that Kim loved him, with everything we had in us. Sure we were young when he had him, but we've never, ever looked upon him as a mistake.

"Ryan, you know that mom and I love you, right?" He nodded his head warily. "Well, we do. We love you with everything we have in us and neither of us would hesitate to give our lives for you and your brothers. As far as why we didn't stop having kids, some of that has to do with the fact that mom and I were a lot more uninformed than you were. Birth control and sex were never brought up with your grandparents. It was a taboo subject. They didn't discuss it in school either. I don't know why, maybe they assumed that we'd learn from our peers, but you need to know that while mom and I may not have been thinking things through when we conceived you, not having you was never an option. We had you because you were conceived in love, through love. And we try our best to give you everything you deserve." He seemed unsure of himself. I put both hands on his shoulders. "Look at me, son. Look at me." I trained my eyes on him and waited until he had his eyes on me. "I love you, Ryan. Never doubt that. I've loved you from before you were born and I'll love you until the day I die."

"I love you, too, Dad."

I pulled him into a hug and simply held him. He needed that. I realize that now. I didn't have enough of that from my own father. He loved me in his own quiet way, but he didn't express his love with hugs and heart to heart talks—my father simply worked hard and did his best to provide for us. When Kim became pregnant while still in high school, my father didn't express his disappointment. He simply took on a third part-time job to help support us. While I appreciated all of us his efforts, because I do, what I needed was a few reassuring hugs—just to let me know that he loved me.

"Come on, Ryan. Let's go and have breakfast. Maybe we can catch a movie as a family today."

"That would be cool, Dad. I'll tell mom to bring her big bag so she can smuggle some snacks and drinks into the theatre."

"You do that, son." _Yeah, he's definitely our kid._

I sat for a bit in his room to do some solitary thinking. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that my sister, though I love her, wasn't my responsibility. My kids were my first priority and we were finally getting somewhere. I didn't want to be like my father and not be home for my kids because I was always working. If Jenny moved in, I'd definitely have to take on a second job and then I'd never see Kim or the kids anymore. I needed to be there for them, they were my life. And I needed their hugs just as much as they needed mine.

I walked out to the living room and helped Kim dole out breakfast to the kids. The kids were all excited about going to the movies. Kim even suggested that we have dinner out at Chuck E. Cheese's afterwards.

"Are you sure, hon?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure, we have enough cushion and I think the kids could all use a day just for themselves."

I kissed her on the cheek. "I think you might be right."

"Uh, Dad?"

"Yes, Ryan?"

"I'm a little old for Chuck E. Cheese's. How about you and I go to Hooters instead? Just us men." I raised an eyebrow at our son while Kim slapped the back of his head. "It was just wishful thinking. Uh, Mom, we're out of shampoo again."

"We'll stop at the Dollar Store and get some more," Kim assured our son before sharing a little chuckle with me.

I found myself mentally thanking Taha Aki for the Dollar Store. Without it, we wouldn't be able to support our son's newfound source of amusement.

Yeah, we may not be wealthy and we probably have too many mouths to feed, but one thing was for sure, Kim and I created a family that was rich with love. I couldn't imagine a moment without any of them. And I wouldn't give them up for all the money in the world.

**What do you think of Angela dumping her kids off with Billy all of the time? Do you like how Paul gave his unemployed friends some under the table work to help them out? What about his idea to make Billy mobile? Do you think it will help in improving the infrastructure of the reservation? So, are you ready to send the firing squad after Kurt Fuller? What did you think of Jared's reaction upon learning that his baby sister was pregnant? What about the pack's interference in saying that he needed to discuss matters with Kim before jumping into a life altering situation? **How would you have reacted if you were Kim? I gave you a glimpse into Jared's life, how do you think he handled Ryan? Let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'll respond to you. XOXO mama4dukes****


	18. Chapter 18

_**Thank you all for your infinite patience. I am not going to make any promises as to when the **_**_next chapter will post; however, I will make a promise that this story along with the others I have posted will be completed. It's just taking me a bit longer to work through my writer's block._**

**This story is AU/OOC**

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only.**

**Paul's POV**

After Jenny woke up, we called her parents over to the house to discuss the situation with them. Mr. and Mrs. Cameron were more worried about the beating their daughter received at the hands of Kurt Fuller than about the pregnancy.

"Does she need to go to the hospital? Is she okay?" Mr. Cameron asked Bella.

"I examined her carefully and, aside from the bruises, she should be fine. I'd recommend pressing charges against Kurt Fuller though."

"No...no...we don't want any trouble with the Fullers."

"You're not seriously thinking of letting this slide, are you?"

"Paul, you have no idea what the Fullers are like. And the tribal police aren't exactly trustworthy either."

Seth walked into the house just then. He was dressed in his Forks Police uniform. "If you don't report it, then I will. This incident is considered statutory rape. Jenny is fifteen, Kurt Fuller is eighteen."

"Why were you involved with Kurt Fuller anyway?" Mrs. Cameron asked.

"Oh, no, don't you dare turn this on her! She feels guilty enough as it is!" my wife snapped. "She is fifteen years old. She's a child and she made a mistake. He's a high school senior, a good looking one, most likely popular, moneyed, and there was probably no way that she could resist him once he turned on his charms. Think, Mrs. Cameron, we've all been fifteen—what was it like for you?"

"Oh, God, you're right. I'm sorry, Jenny." She looked up at Bella. "When I was fifteen, I became pregnant with Jared. I was so scared, frightened. Fortunately, Joe was, and still is, a good man; but Kurt Fuller? I don't see any redeeming qualities in him."

And there it was. Jared's mother had him when she was fifteen—still a child herself. The Camerons were an example of the cycle of poverty so rampant on the reservation. I'm assuming that they didn't know better. How could they? When you have a child when you're still a child—your life, education, everything is cut short. Jared and Kim were the same only they're finally doing something to try to get out of their rut, but they wouldn't have been able to do it without support and guidance. Something had to be done to stop the cycle.

"Jane, we need to press charges before he does something like this to another child. How much do you know of the Willy Black incident?" Sue asked.

"I know that he ran away from home. I can understand why with a mother like his. I see her constantly berating her children in public."

_Hmm...it seems Angela isn't very popular on the reservation at all._

"Kurt Fuller and his friends tried to push drugs on him. When he refused, he was beaten until his spleen ruptured and he had to have surgery to repair it in Arizona."

"But William is only in middle school? How did he get from Washington to Arizona? And where was Angela?"

"He was frightened enough to run and felt that he couldn't turn to his mother. Jacob was out of town at the time."

"Oh, the poor thing. He could have come to us. We would have taken care of him."

"I know you would have. Charlie and I would have taken care of him too, but the point is, Jane, we can no longer allow our children to be bullied by the Fuller family. We must, absolutely must, report this crime. Measures are being put into place where our children will feel safe at school once again. And Kurt Fuller will soon be facing charges for the crimes he committed against Will. We can put him away for longer if Jenny would press charges against him. He is eighteen years old, he will be tried as an adult."

"If it helps, you can report the crime to the Forks Police Department instead. Bear in mind that while La Push falls under the jurisdiction of the tribal police force, if you have reasonable cause not to trust them—you can report the crime to the Forks Police Department. Also, keep in mind that if it is reported to the tribal police, Billy, Josh, Old Quil, and Mom will not permit the crime to be brushed under the rug. It'll be Fuller versus the four of them and Terrance Johnson will be stuck between a rock and a hard place," Seth added.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Jenny?"

"I think we should report it. I don't want Kurt hurting anyone else on the reservation. I'm not even worried about myself. I'm more worried about the little kids like Willy." The thing was, Jenny wasn't that much older than Willy and she was going to be a mother. I was disturbed by the thought immensely.

The Camerons both nodded their heads. Joe looked up at us. "We'll report the crime to the Forks Police Department and go from there. It's time we put a stop to the Fullers." He sighed before he spoke again with an air of determination, "As for the baby, we can handle it. We'll help Jenny just like we helped our other kids."

"And you'll make sure that she graduates from high school, right?" I added. "She won't get anywhere in life without a diploma at least. You're well aware of how hard Jared and Kim struggled for years without their diplomas."

"The baby can go into the tribal day care center while Jenny is in school," Sue informed them. "It's free for high school students."

"Please, promise me that you won't drop out of school, Jenny?" Bella begged.

"Oh, no way. I have straight A's. I can't drop out of school. I was hoping to go to college, but now..."

"We'll make it happen, Jenny. One way or another, you'll be the first Cameron to attend college," Jane assured.

And with Jane Cameron's determination, I knew that Jared's sister would be okay. The Camerons left the house with Seth to file a report at the Forks Police Department.

With this fiasco seemingly being handled by Seth, Bella and I moved on to taking care of a few matters of business. We dropped off checks for five grand a piece to Jason, Chris, and Rick so that they could get started on the repair work for my in-laws' and Billy's houses. Then, we headed to Forks City Hardware to set up an account so supplies would be billed directly to me. The owner was grateful and welcomed the business. Apparently, there were many out of work laborers in the area and business had dropped sharply for him.

This reminded me of the fact that I still had a ton of hiring to do for the highway restoration project. I had roughly seven hundred temporary employees ready to go, but with New Mexico and Texas in my pocket, I needed more. Fortunately, I still had roughly a year before those two projects started up, but I needed temporary employees for Arizona. Jeff was going to help me set up hiring through the BIA in which we'd send hiring notices out to all of the reservations across the United States. I also planned on hiring some of the unemployed in the Forks area. Jessica's father, who was a lifelong construction worker, was considering temporarily relocating because I paid more than employers in the area. He'd been steadily working despite the decline in construction jobs, but he admitted that he'd been having to travel further and further to find jobs. The plus side was that Jessica and Embry were willing to house him and he had relatives in Texas with whom he could stay with if I put him in charge of one of the sites there. He knew dozens of men and women who would be willing to relocate, temporarily, for steady employment.

After we were done with our errands, we returned to La Push. Leah and Eric were deep in conference with Sue and Charlie. "Oh, good, I'm glad you two are home. How would you feel about me visiting you for a bit?" Leah asked.

"That's fine, but why?"

"I've got a lactation problem. I can't seem to stop producing milk. I'm slowly trying to wean Izzy, but I can't. I'm constantly engorged, and last night, I literally started spouting milk like a fountain. Poor Eric woke up soaking wet in the middle of the night."

I started cracking up. I couldn't help it, the thought of Leah being some sort of a milk geyser was hilarious. Charlie started laughing too. We both stopped after Sue and Bella glared at us, but we couldn't wipe the grins off of our faces.

"Are you two done laughing now?" Bella asked. "This could affect her kidneys!"

"I'm sorry," I said quickly, stifling a chuckle.

"Go ahead, Leah."

"Anyway, I called Dr. Kayani and he told me to get my ass to Arizona ASAP. His grandfather's a vet and a shifter and he wants to give me a check-up."

"Wait a minute, you're going to a vet?" I guffawed.

"Paul! Stop being insensitive!" my wife scolded. Damn! She looks scarier than Leah does with that face. Oh man, how am I going to stop laughing with that smirk on my father-in-law's face?

I'd better keep my mouth shut before she starts withholding sex from me for being insensitive.

"Yes, I'm going to a vet. Randy and his grandfather are pretty sure that whatever is wrong has something to do with me phasing so much. That's another thing, I can't stop phasing. I've been phasing everyday since I started going wolf again."

"Everyday? I admit that we've had to phase a lot recently, but most of us guys are only phasing once every two weeks or so. We haven't had trouble controlling that."

"Exactly why Randy's grandfather wants me to come and see him. He thinks that my body is having trouble distinguishing between wolf and human."

"You can stay with us as long as you need to Leah," Bella assured.

"Thanks, I'll book a flight as soon as possible. Kyla, Linda, and Mom are going to watch the kids while Eric is at work so it'll just be me. I just need to pump milk for Izzy, but at this point, I can just drip into her bottle.

_Man, now I'm thinking about a leaky faucet. I kept imagining Randy going in there and shutting her tits off with a wrench. _I must have had a smirk on my face because the next thing I felt was Sue's stinging pinch on my arm. She followed up by pinching my father-in-law who also had a huge grin on his face.

"Hey, no problem. Whatever you guys need," I told her.

"Thank you, Paul," Eric replied gratefully. "I'm really worried about Leah."

"We'll take care of her, man." I patted Eric on the shoulder. I didn't know him too well and I kept forgetting that he's an imprint—the only male imprint in wolf history. He must feel like the odd man out being surrounded by female imprints and dominant male wolves. Alright, dominant was stretching it a bit. We were only dominant when it came to the safety of our imprints, otherwise the women ran the show. Of course, there was that one time when Bella let me strap her hands to the bedpost with my necktie and spank her...that was fun...but I digress, the point is that none of us were chauvinistic alpha males. For the most part, we were equal partners with our imprints.

Two hours later, we were having a bonfire on First Beach along with Charlie; the elders minus Fuller—who we learned was away for the weekend—and Old Quil—who was still in Phoenix getting his groove on; the pack and their imprints minus Angela—who was still in Seattle. I knew something was up as soon as Crispy and Babs showed up.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?"

"I wasn't going to miss Embry's and your imprinting ceremony."

"Yeah, but I just talked to you this morning when we were all phased in."

"I know, it was right before we had to leave for the airport. I left Sam and Randy in charge of the pack."

"Oh, cool, thanks for...wait a minute! What imprinting ceremony?"

"Uh, yeah, no one told us about an imprinting ceremony!" Embry huffed indignantly.

"I told you two that you needed to have one when you returned to La Push. By the way, Crispy, Old Quil and Tolinka suggested that since you and Babs are here, you two have a ceremony the Quileute way as well," Billy stated.

"What?" Crispy gasped. "Why?"

_Yeah, buddy, that's right—it sucks to have it thrown at you without warning, doesn't it?_

"Because you're the beta of the combined pack. Clearly, you are meant to be indoctrinated into the pack."

"Oh, come on, these ceremonies aren't that bad. You just repeat a few words in Quileute and then we party," Linda said. "I brought tequila—five different varieties. We can do a blind taste test later."

_I'm now thoroughly convinced that Collin's imprint is a full on lush._

"See, kids, it's easy. Let's get started." Billy began by repeating the Quileute legends. Crispy and Babs were thoroughly engrossed as the chief of the tribe weaved through the tales, beginning with the history of the wolves and ending with the tale of Taha Aki and his third wife. From there he delved into a speech I'd never heard before. Neither Embry nor I had ever been to an imprinting ceremony—these were for the elders and imprinted couples only. Clearly, Billy was making an exception because Charlie was here.

"Wolves and coyotes were created by magic to serve as protectors of their tribes. The Quileute Wolf Pack was created by the spirit gods to guard La Push and their people from cold ones. The Wa-Ya Brotherhood Coyote Pack was created by the god of the underworld when he answered a desperate plea for help when slave traders threatened their people and their land. For many generations, the first sons of the Wa-Ya Brotherhood were sacrificed to the god of the underworld as repayment for the survival of the tribe. Like their fathers and grandfathers before them, they would turn into great coyotes and serve as protectors of their nation. But now, the god of the underworld has released his hold on the Wa-Ya Brotherhood and entrusted them to Taha Aki's care forevermore. The Quileute Wolf Pack and The Wa-Ya Brotherhood Coyote Pack now run together as one. While the reasons for this are still unclear, by the way both packs have taken on characteristics of the other, I feel it is so the new combined pack can work together in harmony to support the betterment of our two tribes."

_Okay, this must be really new because I'm sure our connection with Crispy's pack wasn't mentioned in past imprinting ceremonies._

Billy continued with his speech, "With the passage of time, the needs of our tribes have changed and so have the evils threatening the existence of our nations. The Quileute Nation and the Wa-Ya Nation are small tribes. Wolves and coyotes stand as protectors of the two tribes and the spirit gods brought the spirit warriors of our two nations to run as one lead by our Great Protector, Paul Lahote, and his equally magnificent Spirit Protector, Crispin Hodges. Together, these two men will lead their pack of Spirit Warriors which includes Embry Call to new heights so that they can protect both tribes from forces that may harm them and their traditions. Behind these great warriors are magnificent partners called imprints. Imprints, in most cases, are soul mates, brave and powerful themselves—they are there to support their shape-shifters as equal partners so that they are able to perform their duties without hindrance."

_Um, then, what the heck is up with Angela? Because the witch has done nothing, but drag Jacob down._

_Maybe she was sent from the underworld while Taha Aki hooked everyone else up cause that shit ain't right. Oh, hang on, Billy said, 'in most cases.' Yep, even he knows when the spirit gods failed as well._

"Tonight, we honor three spirit warriors and their imprints and bind them under the eyes of the spirit gods on our sacred land. Paul Lahote, Crispin Hodges, and Embry Call, please take your imprints' hands and face the fire."

The three of us did as Billy requested and stood facing the bonfire along with our imprints. He started beating on a traditional Quileute drum until he worked up to a steady rhythm before he spoke, "I, William Black, Chief of the Quileute Tribe, call upon the earth, sea, air, and fire to bear witness to the joinings of the spirit warrior Embry Call to Jessica Stanley Call; of the spirit protector Crispin Hodges to Barbara Tiponi Hodges; and of the great protector Paul Lahote and Isabella Swan Lahote."

Sue, then handed Embry, Crispy, and me each traditional, hand carved, wooden Quileute bowls. Billy instructed the three of us to run to the ocean and fill the bowls half full with sea water. We each kissed our imprints, ran to the water, and dunked our bowls in the ocean before returning with our bowls.

Billy re-started the ceremony. He placed one green leaf into each of our bowls. "These bowls, carved from the trees of our ancient land, represent strength and integrity; the green leaf, from our forest, floating on the water from our ocean is a symbol of life, fertility, and the purity of the love shared between soul mates." The sea water in the bowl was poured through the hands of our imprints by us as instructed by Billy. We were then each told to grab a handful of sand from the beach.

"As a couple, you will each pour the sand in your palms simultaneously into your bowls." We did as instructed. "Now, together, mix the sand with your fingers." As our hands touched while mixing the sand, I felt the familiar currents of electricity created by our imprint, pulse through our fingers. I instinctively, put Bella's hand in mine and held it in the bowl surrounded by the fine sand of First Beach. "Like the grains of sand that you've combined, your souls are now bound together for eternity and can never be separated." Billy went on to have us repeat some words in Quileute which I had no idea of the meaning of. Now, more than ever, I wished that I'd paid attention in my Quileute language classes while I was in school. Even my drunk mother had always warned me that I'd regret not knowing the language one day. Out of the entire pack, only Jared and Quil spoke Quileute. Embry can speak Makah. I wonder if Crispy can speak the Wa-Ya language?

Billy mixed up some sort of herbal concoction in what looked like one half of a jumbo oyster shell and added hot water from a thermos to it. He passed the shell around and had each of us take a sip. As soon as the liquid hit my body, I felt as if I were being transported to another realm. "We call upon the spirits to bind these souls together so that their hearts may beat as one for eternity." Billy returned to his drumming and chanting.

I tried to concentrate on what Billy was saying, but I couldn't. I felt jittery—whatever herbs were in that concoction was powerful stuff. I noticed that Crispy and Embry both looked shaky as well. I wrapped my arms around Bella and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I felt some supernatural force pulling us together, connecting us. It was stronger than the initial imprint. I felt bound to her—as if nothing could ever separate us. I had an incredible urge to protect her, to keep her safe, because, without her, I knew that I could no longer exist. She was the one who breathed life into me. She was the keeper of my soul. Without her, I would surely die.

As Billy's drumming and chanting came to a halt, I felt grounded again, back to normal per se. I looked down and saw that Bella had turned her body to face mine and was gazing into my eyes with a look of awe and admiration.

"Kwop Kilatley," she murmured to me. Now, _that_, I understood. She was asking me to stay with her forever in Quileute.

"Forever," I replied and kissed her on the lips.

With the ritual ended, there was a raucous applause from those attending. Food and drinks were broken out. Linda was sucking out of a bottle of Patron. And Crispy was being held down by Embry, Collin, and Jacob as Billy inked a Quileute Wolf Pack Tattoo onto his arm.

"Crispy, are you crying?" I asked.

"Shut up, man. I don't like pain," he whimpered.

"Well, thank God. I might be Fainting Wolf, but our beta is Crying Coyote." Collin was guffawing. I'd never seen him look so relaxed and at ease.

"You'd better not tell anyone in the pack," Crispy warned.

"Well, what happened when you got your original pack tattoo?" I asked him. "That one goes down your hip, that had to have hurt."

"I was fine for that one. The Wa-Ya Nation are more gentle."

"Oh, bullshit, Crispy. You know damn well that Barry's mother gave you morphine to knock you out," Babs blurted.

"Babs! You weren't supposed to say anything! I gave my guys an alpha order so they'd keep their mouths shut! Owwww!" he yelped.

"Sorry, kid," Billy replied.

"You alpha ordered your pack so they wouldn't say anything about you crying through a tattoo?" I questioned then started cracking up.

"Shut the hell up, Paul. This hurts!"

"Here, hottie, have a sip. It'll take the edge off." Linda handed Crispy her bottle of Patron and he downed the whole thing in one go.

"Hey, it does work. Can I have more? You're kind of cute."

"Excuse me, who are you?" an incensed Babs asked.

"Oh, I'm Linda—Collin's imprint. Your husband's nice to look at."

"You're nice to look at too, cutie." Clearly, Crispy was drunk—most likely from the combination of the herbs and the tequila. "Ouch...this really hurts." He started bawling when Babs pinched his other arm really hard.

"Geez, Crispy! Will you stop crying? If we ever go into battle, how are you going to survive with such a low tolerance to pain? Let me tell you something, when a vampire attacks you—it's nothing compared to the pain of a little tattoo."

"I don't plan on battling vampires. I don't even know the first thing about fighting. Jeff used to wrestle in high school—he might be good at it."

"Hang on, are you telling me that none of your pack have ever been trained how to fight?"

"Nope, I've never even been in a fistfight in school. I think Manny was in one in the seventh grade. Oh, and Barry had to learn self defense when he went to the police academy. He hasn't practiced in a long time though, his department does yoga now."

"That's going to change as soon as we get back. You're all going to learn to fight. My pack can all fight."

"Um, I've never learned," Seth said.

"Neither have I," Collin added.

"Same here," Leah piped in.

"Jake, what the heck were you doing by not teaching these guys how to fight?" I asked, appalled.

"I didn't see the need. The threat of leeches was gone."

"Yeah, but one of the purposes of being a spirit warrior is as protector. What good is a protector if he doesn't know how to defend himself?"

"Obviously, I didn't think it through. Now do you understand why you're meant to be alpha and not me? Think, Paul, think! I wasn't qualified! Thank God," Jake replied in relief.

"Yeah!" Crispy agreed, defending him.

_This is so unfair. Why the heck do I have to be alpha? I'm busy enough as it is. I have my own company to run and an imprint to love._

"Paul, let's just relax and enjoy ourselves. It's our last night in La Push," Bella whispered in my ear.

"You're right." I sighed and took her hand. We went for a walk along the shoreline, leaving everyone behind.

After we were a long way from the bonfire, Bella finally spoke, "That was some ceremony, huh?"

"It sure was. I felt as if I was..."

"...fusing together with me?" she asked, completing my thought.

"Exactly. It was more powerful than the moment we imprinted."

"I felt more like it completed our imprinting. As if it were locking us into place...because to me, nothing will be more powerful than the moment that you imprinted on me."

"Yeah, but you scared me away," I joked.

"You can't win them all, Paul."

"Yeah, I can. I have you, don't I?"

"Yes, you do...and I have you."

We stood there on the shore smiling at each other, absolute contentment filling our hearts. As the wind blew gently around me and the waves tumbled onto the shore, I felt compelled to hold her in my arms, to touch her.

"I've always wanted to walk along this beach with you. I used to get pissed off whenever I saw you here with Jacob. I couldn't understand why—now I know. You were always meant to be mine, Bella. Always."

She reached up on her tippy toes and kissed me on the lips. And that was my undoing. I had to have her. I had an overwhelming urge to make love to her, claim her under the stars and the moonlight. I picked her up in my arms and started running. I ran until I reached the cliffs that I used to jump off of. I had to take her there—my wolf demanded it. I hurriedly removed each piece of clothing from her then worked on my own.

My bride was on her knees with my cock in her mouth before I had my shirt off. I quickly pushed my shorts down the rest of the way and allowed myself to relish in the feeling of her full lips wrapped around me, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't what my wolf wanted. He didn't want her pleasing him, he wanted to be the one to show her pleasure; give her what she needed; prove to her that he was hers.

"Paul," she gasped as I abruptly pulled out of her and sprawled her out flat on her back on the cliff's edge. With my arms, I spread her legs out wide and lapped at her folds, concentrating on her sensitive nub. Bella arched into me, letting my tongue delve deeper into her depths.

"M...more...Paul..." she begged. I sucked on her clitoris, causing her to writhe uncontrollably under the pressure. Her body was shaking, shivering from the feel of my mouth, and her sweet nectar was flowing liberally onto my tongue.

Only when she shuddered to her orgasm did I finally allow myself to take pleasure in her. I flipped her over onto her knees and plunged inside of her. My hands roamed on her chest stopping at her nipples which were already pebbled under the biting November wind. She rocked her body into mine and I moaned at the feeling of my cock grazing her walls; the feel of her core satiating the tip. We met each other thrust for thrust, both of us intent on bringing pleasure to each other. Every moan of pleasure, every breath we took, every movement we made echoed over the cliff.

The pit of my stomach clenched as my release approached. I rocked into her harder, faster—desperate to bring her to a second peak. She took every inch I gave her and, suddenly, screamed my name in sheer ecstasy as her walls clamped down on me, giving my cock the extra pressure it needed for me to spill my seed inside of her.

I pulled back on her hair and sunk my teeth into it's familiar home, marking her—enjoying the feel of her pulsating onto my cock. She cried out in pleasure and in pain while I infused my scent into her. She collapsed back into my arms in exhaustion and I sheltered her from the cold air with my heat. I nuzzled her neck, giving her mark a few swipes with my tongue and whispered, "Forever," into her ear.

After a while, I dressed her carefully before dressing myself and swept her back into my arms before running back to the bonfire which had been abandoned. We walked back to Charlie's house where a worn out Crispy and Babs were sitting on the front steps.

"What happened to you two?" I asked.

"Paul, we just went through a binding ceremony. The tribal chief called upon the spirits to bring our souls together. He made us drink some sort of funky aphrodisiac. He gave me a tattoo, making me suffer from insurmountable amounts of pain. Of course, I'm going to go and claim my mate. By the way, Bella, you're loud. I could hear you wailing Paul's name all over First Beach."

"I make her feel that good, man," I returned.

"Shut up."

"He's still mad about the tattoo." Babs wagged her eyebrows at me.

"So, what happened to everyone else?"

"Embry and Jess ran off into the woods just before Babs and I took off for the beach. When we got back to the bonfire, everyone was packing up."

"So, what are you two doing out here?"

"Your parents are...um..." Crispy's ears turned into a brilliant shade of crimson and became noticeably pointier. "They're...uh...busy."

"Yuck," I groaned.

"Anyway, we were waiting for you two. Collin asked us to stop by at his house."

"Alright, let's go."

We walked the short distance to the Littlesea household. We were invited inside and discovered that Embry, Seth, Leah, and their imprints were there waiting for us. Jake was there too—without Angela again.

"I brought pizzas," he announced, pointing to the stack on the table. "I figured you'd all be hungry after the ceremony."

"Thanks, Jake." He looked like he had something to say. "Something on your mind?"

He took in a deep breath before speaking. "I'm here to apologize for my past actions to all of you. I wasn't in my right mind and I was being manipulated by Tony, but no more. What happened to Jenny and Willy is just unforgivable. I'd also like to apologize about Angela. She..."

"Stop, Jake," Bella interrupted. Their eyes met. "Don't apologize for Angela. You're not responsible for her actions."

"I know, but she's my imprint."

"She's a grown adult and a mother to boot. She's responsible for her own actions; you're not."

"Where is she anyway?" Linda asked.

"She's not coming home from Seattle until tomorrow."

"Why not? What about the kids?"

"Dad's watching them to give me a bit of a break for the night. She..." Jake looked like he was going to cry. "She called to tell me that she was exhausted from constantly having to watch the kids and that she needed one extra night. She'll be home sometime tomorrow."

"She did what?" an appalled Linda snapped. "How the hell can the kids exhaust her? She's never with them! You, your father, Collin, or I are always taking care of them. She doesn't even take them to and from school. Motherhood is exhausting, but it's also gratifying. If the bitch took the time to be a mother, she'd know this!"

Jake didn't even wince at Linda's rant. Instead, he mumbled, "I know." Then he tumbled into Bella's arms and begged pleadingly, "When did my life go to hell, Bells? When? I used to be a happy kid, right? Wasn't I always happy?" I think we were all stunned that he turned to my imprint—of all people—for comfort, but—really, maybe he felt the most at ease with her. After all, she was his best friend for a while during high school and they did make mudpies together as kids.

"Oh, Jake," Bella soothed. "In life, we all have ups and downs. You just happen to be going through a 'down' stage right now. What matters now is what you do to make life better for yourself and for your kids. And let me tell you something, I spent the day with your kids yesterday and they have to be the sweetest kids on earth. I can tell that you did a great job with them. Keep them happy, Jake."

"How could I let what happened to Will happen? He trusted me and I let him down."

"Then you'll have to work on regaining his trust. Kids are resilient, Jacob. Will is stronger than you think."

"You should be a mom, Bella. You'd make a great one."

"Oh, I'm not ready to be a mom yet. I still have a lot more that I need to accomplish. One day, perhaps, but it's still a long way away."

"I wish I'd been as sensible as you, but..."

"But you wouldn't trade your kids for anything in the world?"

"Exactly."

Aw, now I want to cry. That was just sweet. I saw the women dabbing at their eyes. Crispy, who was an emotional guy wiped away a tear. But enough, I wanted my imprint back. "Jake, we're a pack, we're here for you. No matter what happens, we're family. We'll help you get through this. I promise," I told him as I pried him off of Bella. What can I say? I'm a possessive alpha and I don't like anyone touching what's mine.

"Thanks, Paul," Jacob whispered.

"Don't mention it." _Just keep your paws off of my imprint._

We tore into the pizza, drank beer, and simply had a great evening after that. In the morning, we said goodbye to everyone and headed to Seattle armed with a cooler full of fish on dry ice courtesy of Sue. Crispy and Embry carted home coolers as well. We had lunch at one of the vendors at Pike Place Market, picked up some smoked salmon and Bella's favorite tea, then boarded a flight for Phoenix in the late afternoon. By the time we arrived at home, we were tuckered out. Overall, we'd had a pretty decent Thanksgiving in La Push and, for the first time, I was actually looking forward to visiting again.

_**Goodness, Mr. and Mrs. Cameron were certainly terrified of Fuller, weren't they? Do you think they handled things properly with the Camerons? Poor Leah, what do you think is wrong with her? How about that imprinting ceremony? What about Jacob's breakdown? Can you understand why he turned to Bella for support? Let me know and I'll get back to you. XOXO mama4dukes**_


	19. Chapter 19

**Thank you for all your wonderful words of support. I am gradually working through my writer's block. I will make no promises on when the next chapter will post, but please know that I am working on all of my stories. Without further ado, I present to you Chapter 19 of Intensity in which you will all want to kiss Jake.**

**This story is AU/OOC**

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only.**

**Jacob's POV**

On Monday night, Angela finally walked into the house armed with shopping bags. I was sitting on the sofa having a beer, aimlessly surfing channels on the TV. My mind just couldn't tune into anything, but the state of my marriage and my life. I was miserable. I'd lied to myself for years that Angela was a good woman, but in all honesty, I knew that she was a selfish person and a terrible mother. Maybe we were too young when we got married and had kids? I don't know. What I do know is that she truly had no love for the kids or for me. At this point, I was questioning the validity of the imprint.

"Where are the kids?"

"They're staying at Dad's."

"On a school night?"

"Yeah."

"Lovely," she snipped with sarcasm. "I needed help bringing the bags in from the car."

"I'll get them," I offered like an idiot.

Without even thanking me, Angela huffed that she had to go to the bathroom and remained there until I brought all of her crap in the house. She started going through her purchases immediately. Apparently, she'd purchased a whole new wardrobe for herself.

"Angela? How much did all of this cost?"

"I don't know. By the way, there's something wrong with our Visa card. The card was declined when I tried to buy the Jimmy Choo shoes I wanted. Have you been making the payments?"

"I always make the payments on time."

"Yeah, well, there's something wrong with it. It was embarrassing."

Wunderbar! I bet she ran the credit card up again. I'll have to look into it tomorrow morning.

"I'm going to bed," I told her.

"Fine. I'll be awhile. I have some stuff to take care of."

When did our marriage become so cold and lifeless? It was as if we didn't give a shit about each other anymore. This wasn't the only thing bothering me though. Angela had just spent a weekend away from the kids and she didn't ask how they were doing. Instead, she was upset that they weren't in the house to help her with her fucking bags. What kind of a monster was she? In any case, it was already ten pm, the kids should all be tucked into bed at Dad's house by now. I tried to sleep but my mind was spinning. I was angry—angrier than I'd ever been in my life. My wife was an unfeeling bitch and I was saddled with her for life because of some ridiculous supernatural intervention that happened when we were teenagers! Damn, my life sure sucks.

I had finally managed to close my eyes when Angela burst into the room and turned the lights on. She started putting her crap away in the closet.

"Do you have to do this now? I'm trying to get some sleep. I've got work tomorrow."

"You know that I hate it when things are left out." She rolled her eyes at me and continued what she was doing. I could hear her high heels clicking on the wood floor. Why the hell does she wear heels in the house? It's not like she needs heels anyway. She's already tall.

"Fine!" I stormed out of the house and went to Dad's house. The lights were out, everyone was sleeping. I quietly crept inside and knocked out on the sofa.

I woke up in the morning to find my father looking at me with a concerned expression. He held out a mug of coffee for me. "Thanks, Dad," I mumbled.

"Everything okay, son?"

"Yeah."

"You don't usually spend the night on my sofa."

"I know."

My father looked as if he were working up the courage to say something to me. He looked intently into my eyes and finally said, "You know, you're still very young."

"Yes, Dad."

"You were so young when Willy was born. You weren't ready."

"Dad, just say whatever you want to say, I can take it."

"Alright, well, I just want you to know that there's always room for you and the babies here."

"Dad..."

"Jacob, listen to me. I know things aren't going well between you and Angela. In fact, I can't think of a time when things were ever well between the two of you. The point is, some marriages don't last forever and staying together for the sake of the kids isn't always the best choice."

"I can handle my own marriage, Dad."

"Quite frankly, son, I don't think you can. I think you're blinded by the imprint, but I want you to put that aside and think about your babies—my grandbabies. I want you to look me in the eyes now and tell me that Angela is a good mother."

I tried, I really did, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't lie to my father.

"Look at me, Jacob, and tell me the truth," he prompted.

I lifted my eyes to his and whimpered, "What am I going to do, Dad?" I dropped into his arms and started crying. I just couldn't think anymore.

"I'm here for you. I've always been here for you. We're going to figure this out together. I promise, I'm not going anywhere. You're still my son. You'll always be my son," he soothed. He had no idea how grateful I was to have him as a father.

**XOXO**

I managed to take my kids to school and haul my ass to work. I couldn't stop thinking about how miserable my marriage was and I was snapping left and right at everyone. Collin finally told me to head home early and take it easy. After thanking him, I went to the tribal school and the daycare to pick up the kids. When we came home, I noticed a strange man in a suit standing on our doorstep.

"May I help you?" I asked.

"Are you Mr. Jacob Black?"

"Yes."

"My name is Roger Hasselthorne. I'm with Child Protective Services. I'm here to discuss an incident that occurred with your son William a few weeks ago."

_Well, hell, and I thought the day couldn't get any worse. _

An hour later, I was completely on edge. Angela was nowhere to be found and I had to answer each and every question by myself. I answered honestly though. I told the man that I had been in Phoenix with injuries sustained from a fall and that William had been under the care of my wife when he'd run away. I told him that Dr. Randall Kayani of Phoenix would be able to provide him with any sort of documentation proving that I was away. The man told me that he'd be in touch and asked that Angela call him tomorrow at his office so he could meet with her.

"Dad, are you okay?" William asked.

"I'm fine, son."

"Are they going to take us away from you?"

"I won't let them. Don't worry."

He nodded his head then looked up. He had a guilty expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Willy?"

"It's my fault, isn't it? It's my fault because I ran away to Aunty Bella's house, isn't it?"

"No, Willy, it's not your fault. It's your mom's and my fault. We should have been better parents. We should have listened to you."

"Yeah, but Dad—I ran away because I was scared."

"William!" I grabbed hold of his shoulders and turned his face to look at me. "There never should have been cause for you to be frightened in the first place. Mom and I failed to protect you."

"But..."

"No, you listen to me, son. The job of a parent is to protect his or her children. You gave both me and mom lots of warnings about being bullied, but we didn't listen. It's our fault."

"I'm sorry, Dad."

"Why are you apologizing? Can't you see? I should be the one apologizing to you. And I'm sorry, Willy, I'm so sorry you were hurt. I love you."

"I love you, too. I don't want to have to go away from you, Dad."

"I'll do everything possible to make sure that we're together."

He looked down at his feet—still nervous and scared.

"Hey, we're going to be okay. We're a family," I reassured him. "And from now on, you can come to me about anything without ever being afraid. Okay?"

He nodded that he understood and I just sat and held him in my arms, trying to comfort him as best as I could. I contemplated my marriage to Angela and the conversation that I had with my father this morning. I tried, I really tried to be what Angela wanted, but at what cost? I wasn't the best father that I could be because I was always catering to my imprint's whims. That was going to change now. I cannot—absolutely cannot—sacrifice William, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca's well-being for that of a selfish adult.

With Willy in my arms, I watched as Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca quietly tiptoed around the house. I wanted to scream. My kids weren't normal. They weren't childlike at all. Each and every one of them were serious children. They didn't run around the house, jump on the sofa, argue, and create general chaos like normal kids did. They were well-behaved and obedient. They never disturbed me or Angela. They never argued with us. They never asked us for anything. That in itself, was a problem. It was as if they were walking on eggshells around us. Shouldn't they beg us to take them to the beach over the summers or maybe ask to see a movie? They don't even argue over the last cookie. They probably have never made a god-damned mudpie in their entire lives. Oh my God! My kids are like little robots!

And just to prove the point that I was a fucked up parent, my cousin Collin stopped by to pick William up for his Boy Scout meeting. In fact, he took Isaac along with him too. Apparently, he was starting the Cub Scouts along with his son Michael today. He told me not to worry about dinner because he'd feed them at the diner in Forks before returning them to me. I turned to look at my two girls who were quietly watching cartoons on the sofa. Sarah suddenly stood up and walked into the kitchen. She reached into the refrigerator and took some food out.

"Are you hungry, Sarah? I can make you something."

"No, I have to get started on dinner before mom comes home. She'll be mad if it's not ready."

"What did you just say?" I growled, unintentionally causing her to shift nervously on her feet.

My eleven year old daughter shuddered at the sight of me. She shouldn't be shuddering. An eleven year old should never shudder! I took a few breaths to calm myself down. "I'm sorry, baby. Did you just say that mom will be angry at you if you don't have dinner ready?" Sarah looked down at her feet. "Answer Daddy, Sarah."

"My chore is to cook dinner every night," she replied simply.

"Since when, honey?"

"Since about two years ago, but I'm not supposed to say anything to you."

I put the food that Sarah got out back in the refrigerator, shutting the door a little harder than I intended to. "And why is that?"

"Because Mom said that you would be very angry that she gave me the privilege of cooking."

I wanted to slam my fist into the wall. I wanted to phase, but I couldn't. My temper was hanging by a thread, but I had to stay in control. Ten minutes later there was a knock on my door. Seth was standing on the doorstep in his cutoffs. "Jake, are you okay?" Seth whispered while taking Sarah by the hand to keep her safe. He knew that I was close to losing it. "I felt that weird connection. I phased and ran here."

"We need to get out of here," I whispered so only he could hear. "If I'm home when Angela gets home—wherever the fuck she is, I'm liable to phase and pummel her. I'll tell you what happened later. I need you with me, man."

Seth nodded to me and suddenly announced to the girls, "Dinner at Uncle Seth's tonight! We're having fried chicken!"

The girls squealed excitedly as we climbed into my truck. The girls didn't question why Seth didn't have his car with him. I sent a text message to Collin asking him to hang on to William and Isaac overnight due to an issue with Angela.

He texted me back stating that it wouldn't be a problem. Thank goodness for my cousin.

Twenty minutes later, we were in Seth's living room. Kyla took the girls immediately and motioned with her chin that Seth and I should go out and phase. We went out into the forest where we phased and started running. I ran the conversations that I had with the social worker and with Willy and Sarah through my brain as I darted through the woods.

"_Man, that's harsh,"_ Seth noted.

"_I know. I just don't know what to do. I don't want to lose my kids, Seth."_

"_Well, if it helps any, I work with the social worker that has your case all the time. He's a really decent guy. Another thing that you should know is that if—and that's a big if; if you do get the kids taken from you, they would be placed with a relative first. In your case, your father would get precedence because he lives in La Push. They like to keep Native American children who live on reservations with their own tribe. In your case, Jake—I don't think your kids are going to be taken from you because you have documentation that you were injured and out of state. They'll be asking Angela a ton of questions though and I wouldn't be surprised if you're all required to attend family therapy together."_

"_I don't mind going to therapy if that's what it's going to take. The problem is, I don't know what to do about Angela."_

Seth closed his big wolf eyes and let out a deep sigh before looking into my eyes and speaking, _"If I were in your shoes, I'd do whatever it takes to hold on to my kids."_ He paused for a second. _"Even if it meant having to divorce my imprint." _With that, he started running back to his house in human form—leaving me in the forest to consider his words.

**XOXO**

The next day, I decided to cut out of work early. I returned home to find Angela yelling at William. Sarah had shuttled her brother and sister into her bedroom and was peering into the kitchen through the slightly cracked open door. I stood at the front door to take in what she had to say.

"Didn't you hear me, William? Uncle Tony's son has been arrested because you lied to the police in Arizona! Mark Cedro and Terrance Johnson have been arrested too."

"I didn't lie! I never lie," William stated.

"Yes, you did! Kurt said that he was only trying to give you a ride home."

"No, he's lying, I swear! He tried to make me take drugs and he beat me up when I told him no!"

"Don't you lie to me! Kurt would never lie! And your accusation that Kurt is doing drugs is reprehensible. Kurt is a good boy. He'd never do drugs! Maybe you're the one doing drugs!"

Sarah burst out of her bedroom. "Willy isn't lying! Kurt gave me a funny looking cigarette on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I took it because other kids told me that he and his friends beat them up if they didn't take it home with them."

My eyes bulged in shock. I was about to say something when Angela took her hand and swiped it across Sarah's cheek, knocking her to the ground. "Now you're lying too! What kind of kids have I raised?"

"Don't you hit her!" William screamed and attempted to shove Angela who grabbed my son and started shaking him.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Sarah yelled, standing up and hurling herself in between her mother and her brother.

Angrily, I approached the scene and put my two children behind me. "Pack your shit and get out!" I roared at Angela.

"But Jacob, they're lying. Kurt would never do anything as heinous as selling drugs. He comes from a wealthy family. His father is a good person."

"I can't believe that you're even doubting William's word after his injuries. What kind of a mother are you?"

"I know my kids and they lie. Look at all the trouble William has been in."

"William's a good boy. He's probably the most well behaved kid on the reservation."

"Well, then, I suppose we've reached an impasse. It's either me—your chosen imp...wife—or them, Jacob. You choose."  
><em><br>I can't fucking believe she's stupid enough to offer me that outrageous choice. She asked for it._ "Them, it'll always be them before you so you'd better get that through your thick skull, Angela. As their mother, I would expect you to put them ahead of me, but clearly you and I aren't on the same page when it comes to parenting. Now pack your bags and get out of my house. I don't care where you go, just go. I don't want you near my kids."

"They're my kids too. I'm going to go away until you calm down and can be reasonable. After that, we'll talk." Angela walked into our bedroom and slammed the door shut. I could hear her packing her belongings.

Sarah and William both jumped into my arms. I hugged them both tight. "I love you. You both know that, right?"

"Will you and Mom be getting a divorce?" Sarah asked in a whisper. She was so timid and shy.

"I don't know, sweetie."

"Because I don't mind if you do—as long as we can stay with you." It dawned on me that a child shouldn't be sanctioning a divorce between her parents, but this is how low Angela and I have sunk.

"I'm never letting you go, don't worry."

It took Angela an hour to pack four suitcases and leave the house. I didn't know how to proceed from there so I called my father. He and Charlie stopped by along with Seth.

"Jacob, I'm going to question Sarah and William and take a police report from them. I want you to file charges against Angela for slapping Sarah and shaking William. I also want you to file a restraining order so that she can't legally approach the kids; I'll make sure it's approved."

"Okay." I looked over to see my father fiddling with the doorknob with a screwdriver. "What are you doing, Dad?"

"Oh, I'm changing the locks so she can't get into the house. I don't want her near my grandbabies. Not after what she just did."

That was actually a good idea. I had to hand it to my dad, that was some smart thinking. "Um, Charlie, what should I do now?"

"It's very important that you provide as much normalcy as possible for the kids. I'm going to file the restraining order through my department. Normally, you'd have to go through the tribal police, but because the tribal police chief's son is involved in the case with Willy—I'll be handling this. Now let me get to questioning the kids. Seth, take a report from Jacob."

And so, for the next hour or so we were questioned. Charlie took photos of bruises that had developed on William's shoulders and the handprint on Sarah's face. She'd also skinned her knees and elbow when she hit the ground after being knocked down by Angela. Sarah and William both spoke of past incidents when they and the other kids had been hit by their mother.

"Uncle Charlie?"

"Yes, Sarah?"

"I almost forgot. I have to give you something." Sarah ran into her room and came back out. "This is the funny looking cigarette that Kurt Fuller forced me to take with me. I kept it."

It was a joint laced with something. I could smell it with my heightened wolf senses and I knew that Seth could too. My father noticed both of us shaking in anger. "Get outside. Now!" he whispered harshly to us.

Seth and I both burst out the back door and phased out of our clothes.

"_She's just a baby! She's eleven years old, Jake!"_ Seth hollered.

On the other hand, I was sobbing uncontrollably, running thoughts of what I'd witnessed through my brain.

"_That bitch!"_ a new voice joined us. It was Collin. _"I'm glad you threw her out of the house, Jake. It must have taken everything you had in you to stay in control. I probably would have phased and destroyed her."_

"_No, you wouldn't have. You would never stoop to her level. I still can't believe she hit the kids."_

"_We'll be here for you, Jacob. We're not going anywhere,"_ Collin assured.

"_Yeah,"_ Seth agreed along with every single wolf and coyote in our extended pack. Apparently, they'd all checked in because they'd felt that odd connection that we'd inherited from the coyotes.

"_Hey, Leah? How are you doing?"_

"_My tits hurt. I'm seeing Randy's father tomorrow though. You're coming with me, right Randy?"_

"_Yeah, I am. Bella and Barry's mom are going to be there too."_

"_Why the hell is my wife going?"_ Paul asked.

"_For modesty's sake. I'm a woman, you know!"_ Leah huffed.

"_Jake, we're all here for you. You just make sure that you keep your babies safe and call us if you need us for anything," _Paul said, he was phased on his patio. We could see his grill smoking in the background.

"_Paul! Um, maybe you should man your grill," _I suggested.

"_Shit, my steaks!"_ He phased out after seeing flames erupting out from his grill. Obviously, he had been in the middle of grilling when he felt the connection. He soon phased back in. _"Guess, we're going out to dinner tonight. Oh well."_

We all chuckled at Paul. At least he broke the tension. I soon phased back to human form and went back home with Seth and Collin so I could be with my babies. Charlie and my dad had ordered pizza in and were playing Monopoly with my kids. I had a lot of thinking to do—somehow, I didn't think my marriage to Angela was going to survive, and the worst part about it was that I simply didn't care.

**So what did you all think? Is Jake slowly, but surely redeeming himself in your eyes? What did you think of Billy's and Seth's opinions of the state of Jake's marriage? I bet you all want to hug Jake's kids and kick Angela at this point. Would love to know how you felt about this chapter. Let me know and I'll write back. XOXO mama4dukes **


	20. Chapter 20

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Sammy's POV**

Ryan and I had just joined the wrestling team and had a list of equipment that we needed to purchase. Mom showed up to pick us up from school with Aunty Kim and Aunty Bella, and we were now at the sporting goods store going through the list. Some of my teammates were also there with their moms or dads. I was actually pretty psyched because this was the first sport that I'd ever participated in. My dad used to play football in high school so I was pretty sure that I had athletic genes running through my veins.

"Okay, let's go through the list. It says here that you need an athletic supporter." Mom looked confused. "I don't understand. I've only been to a tribal school where there weren't too many sports that we could participate in, but do all sports at standard public schools require a sponsor? How are we supposed to find a sponsor for you? We just moved here. And besides, I don't understand why it's the parents' responsibility to find a supporter for our son to participate in sports." Some of the other guys' parents were staring at her wide eyed.

"Emily, I think an athletic supporter is a jock strap. See, it says he needs a cup as well," Aunty Bella explained to her, only after pulling to her to the side.

"A jock strap? Why would my Sammy Bear need a jock strap? He's just a little boy!" she announced.

"Emily, it's for protection. A groin injury can be very painful."

Some of my teammates started sniggering at me. _Oh God!_

"Well, where are those cup thingys?"

This is the beginning of hell—I can just sense and feel it.

We went a couple of aisles over and found the jock straps. Unfortunately, there were other guys from my team looking at jock straps as well. "Oh, here they are? Hmm...what size do you need? Sammy come here." And to my horror, my mother held a plastic nut cup right up against me to see which size I needed. Some of the guys started howling along with their fathers. Fortunately, Ryan rescued me and pulled me out of the store. My mom and aunties followed us out.

"Sammy, Ryan, where are you going? We need to buy your equipment," my mother chastised.

"Nah uh. I'll go later with Dad. I refuse to go anywhere with you, Mom."

"Why, honey?"

Aunty Bella fortunately stepped in. "Emily, I think he's embarrassed."

"Embarrassed? Why should he be embarrassed? I don't understand why."

"You held an athletic cup right up against his privates in front of his friends."

"So, I'm his mother. I gave birth to him. I used to change his diapers!"

"Emily!"

"Well, he has no choice. Jared and Sam are working in Flagstaff. They won't be home until late tonight."

Ryan and I both groaned. What a nightmare? It wouldn't be so bad if it were just Aunty Bella and Aunty Kim, but my mother was just so...so...my mother!

"Hmm...how about if Uncle Paul takes you?" Aunty Bella offered. "His office is only ten minutes away."

"Do you think he would?" I asked, hope finally springing into me.

"I think he would, but you boys have to explain why it has to be him who takes you instead of us."

"No problem," I replied. Uncle Paul would be way better than any moms and aunties. He's a dude.

**Paul's POV**

One week quickly passed since our return to Arizona and life was about as hectic as could be. I'd gotten an update from Billy that Fuller's kid was behind bars awaiting a bail hearing while Jake and Angela had separated. The latter story I got from Jake's mind when I phased in the day he threw Angela out of his house. The witch officially gets the worst mother ever award from me. My mother may have been a drunk who swore like a sailor, but she never treated me the way Angela did. My dad; however, was a different story. My mom, though; she always threw herself in between my dad and me and took his beatings. She would never hit me. Never.

Leah was staying at our house while under the care of Randy's grandfather who is a vet. He was running a whole bunch of tests in his lab, but so far, it appeared as if her wolf had somehow manifested herself into her physiology—whatever that means. There's a reason why I didn't choose medicine as a career—I couldn't stand biology.

It was around five o'clock on Tuesday when I received a phone call from Bella. "What is it, hon?"

"_How busy are you this evening?"_

"Not too bad. I was actually getting ready to leave. Why? Do you want to get naked with me?"

"_It's a possibility...later...after you do this one teensy, weensy favor for me."_

Not good. Bella doesn't usually trade out sex for favors. She was definitely up to something. "What favor?" I questioned suspiciously.

"_I'll be right up. Just wait for me."_

"No, Bella, wait..." She hung up the phone before I could get another word in.

Five minutes later, my wife was up in my office with a huge enthusiastic smile on her face. She had Emily and Kim with her—both of whom had sweet smiles on their faces as well. Like I said, she was up to something and so were her two cohorts in crime.

"Hi, honey," she chirped.

"Hi, Paul," Emily and Kim cooed at the same time. All three of them were smiling just a bit too sweetly for my liking.

"Yes?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We were wondering if you could do us a big favor."

"I gathered that. What kind of a favor?"

"Um, we were wondering if you wouldn't mind running a small errand."

"What's the errand?"

"Ryan and Sammy need wrestling gear."

"Okay, and why can't you ladies take care of it?"

"Tell him, Emily."

"We were actually at the sporting goods store with them and there was an incident."

"What incident?"

Emily cleared her throat. "Athletic supporters."

"You mean jock straps?"

"Yes."

"Alright, what happened?"

Ryan and Sammy came bursting into my office at that moment. Sammy explained, "Uncle Paul, my mom embarrassed us. There were a bunch of guys from my school and first she didn't understand what an athletic supporter was and she asked why it was her responsibility to find a supporter for me to wrestle. She thought it was like a sponsor or something." I slapped a palm over my forehead. Emily could be so naïve sometimes. "Then, after Aunty Bella explained that it was a jock strap. She found some of the cups and tried to measure one up against my nuts. She did it in front of everyone, Uncle Paul!" The poor kid. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Emily was simply too overprotective at times. If she could, she'd still have Sammy and Emma strapped into strollers and car seats. "Anyway, I was so embarrassed that I left the store after that and so did Ryan. The problem is, our dads are working at a site in Flagstaff and won't be home until late."

I felt so bad for the kid. His mother had inadvertently made a fool of him in front of some of his teammates. One incident could be social doom for a teenager. "I'll take you boys now and we can go get some dinner. How does that sound?"

"Awesome!" they whooped.

"Mind if I join you?" Crispy asked, walking into my office. "Babs is working until late tonight."

"Come along, the more the merrier."

"Thank you, Paul," Emily said.

"I really appreciate you taking them, Paul. Here's a list of the items they need." Kim handed me a sheet of paper and some money. Emily did as well. I handed the cash back to them. I knew that money was still tight for them.

"Hey, no problem. It'll be nice to hang out with just the men." I winked at the boys who both puffed out their chests and stood tall.

I gave Bella a kiss and whispered that I expected that she make good on her word that she'd play naked with me later before I took off with the boys and Crispy.

"Can we not go to the store on East Camelback Road? That's where we went earlier," Ryan informed me.

"How about if we go to the one on North Tatum Boulevard?"

"Anywhere, but where our moms took us."

"Hey, I get it kid. Don't worry, I'll hook you up."

Crispy and I got to the store and quickly ran down the list. We started with the shoes and the headgear, then picked up their mouth guards. We threw extra socks in because boys always needed socks. We also picked up a couple of hooded sweatshirts for them when we saw them staring at them longingly. We saved the jock straps for last.

"Gee whiz, these things have changed since I was in high school," Crispy noted. He grabbed the list from me. "It says that they should get the compression shorts with the cup pocket. When the heck did they invent those? They're so much easier now than back when we were in high school. Look, the cup just slides inside."

"Hey, no kidding. Will you look at that?"

I looked up to see Ryan and Sammy with mortified expressions on their faces. "Hey, boys, you're going to have to get used to talking about stuff like this. Remember, you're going to have to change in the locker room with your teammates."

"Can't we just change in the bathroom? I mean, what if...what if..."

"What if what, Sammy?"

"What if I get a boner in the locker room?" he whispered.

I looked to Crispy for an answer. "You think about the grossest, most disgusting thing imaginable. Besides, when you're in the locker room with a bunch of guys, the last thing you'll be thinking about is your penis. You're going to want to get dressed quickly," he assured him, ruffling his hair.

"Okay."

"Alright, let's get you sized up and get out of here," I suggested.

"I think I need an extra large cup," Ryan said, puffing out his chest.

"They come in two sizes, children and adults."

"Adult!" both boys snapped.

"I thought so." I chuckled at the two young teens. I grabbed their compression shorts and threw them into the shopping cart along with two duffel bags for them to throw their gear in and cashed out. "Okay, where should we eat?"

"Hooters?" Ryan asked hopefully.

"Meh, why not. It's a sports bar," Crispy quipped. "Besides, they've got great wings and we can watch the game."

I shrugged my shoulders and drove to Hooters. As soon as we got inside, Ryan and Sammy were completely in awe of the waitresses. Crispy and I couldn't care less, they were just semi hot chicks in short shorts and tight tank tops. We had Bella and Babs and these chicks didn't even come close to looking as hot as our wives did. We kicked back and watched the game while Ryan and Sammy ogled the waitresses. They kept ordering more food, asking for extra napkins, refills on their sodas, and the list kept going on and on. In the end, the waitress offered to pose for a photo with the two boys to get them off of her back. Man, she must have been desperate to get rid of them. I left her a huge tip after I paid the tab. Meanwhile, Crispy bought each of them official Hooter's Girls calendars which made them the happiest, horniest teenagers on the planet, and in addition—they both declared Uncle Crispy to be the most awesome uncle on earth.

After dropping Crispy back off to his car which was still at the office, I took both boys back to their homes. I went home excitedly, looking forward to seeing my naked wife, but was greeted by a topless Leah who was kicking back on my sofa watching TV with hot compresses on her tits instead. That sight completely withered down my erection.

"Where's Bella?" I asked.

"She had an emergency delivery at the hospital. Three weeks early."

"Oh."

"Come sit and hang out with me."

"Uh, sure, but Leah—you do realize that you're topless, don't you?"

"Like I give a shit. You're like a brother to me. Besides, you've seen me naked plenty of times and while I was still in my prime."

"True."

"So, can you believe the crap going on between Jake and Angela?"

"Nope, well...I can't believe Angela treated her kids the way she did and that Jake ignored all of the signs for as long as he did."

"I think he was blinded by the imprint."

"I don't know if you can solely blame it on imprinting itself."

"No, but a huge chunk of it can be blamed on it. I mean, clearly, Jake's imprint isn't working like it's supposed to."

"No, it isn't."

"And let me ask you this Paul. Have you thought about whether or not we would have been with our spouses if it weren't for imprinting? I mean, if you didn't imprint on Bella, would you still be with her?"

"That's a good question, Leah and I'm going to give you a diplomatic answer. I prefer to think that the imprinting led me to her, but if imprinting didn't exist, I would have found her eventually."

"Why do you say that?"

"Here's the thing about me and Bella. I met her a few times when we were teenagers in La Push after I'd already phased. I didn't imprint on her. Even when she slapped me across the face the very first time we met, I didn't imprint on her. She used to hang out with Emily back then. I'd seen her plenty of times at Sam's, but still there was no imprinting. Instead, circumstances led us both to move away from Washington and we ran smack dab into each other years later at a dive bar in Phoenix of all places. So, yes, although I believe that imprinting brought us together, I still think we managed to find each other on our own."

"You are such a romantic, Paul."

"Yeah? Do you really think so?"

"Think? I know so. You are so completely in love with your imprint that you're nonsensical."

"And you don't love Eric?"

"I'm hopelessly and helplessly besotted with my personal geek. He truly is the best man ever and he's an animal in bed. He's much more exciting than Sam ever was."

"Eric Yorkie?" I couldn't help but blurt.

"Yes, Eric Yorkie. He's wonderful, you know—wild and kinky. And you know something? You're right, imprinting may have led me to him, but I think I would have ended up finding him eventually."

"I'm glad, Leah. How are your breasts doing?"

"They're painful. Hopefully the lab tests will show something." Leah sat up, removed the compresses, put a bra on, and started shoving cabbage leaves into the cups.

"Um, cabbage leaves?"

"Bella told me that it works as a diuretic of sorts and helps to dry up my milk. She contacted a friend that's a lactation specialist for me. At this point, I'll try anything."

"I don't blame you."

We talked for an hour more before hitting the sack. I was so exhausted that I fell asleep as soon as I shut my eyes. My eyes snapped open at six am and the first thing that I noticed was that my wife wasn't in bed with me. I checked my voicemail. Nope. No message. No strange pull so I know she's okay. Damn it! Where is she?

I took the fastest shower of my life, got ready for work, and drove straight to the hospital. I rushed up to the maternity ward. I asked the nurse on duty if she'd seen Bella.

"Mrs. Lahote has been in with a patient since nine pm last night."

"The patient hasn't delivered yet?" I asked.

"Not yet."

"Well, has my wife slept?"

"I don't think so." The nurse looked up. "Oh, you can ask her yourself. There's Mrs. Lahote now."

Bella walked down the hallway looking haggard. "Hi, honey. I was just about to call you. I didn't want to wake you up in the middle of the night. What are you doing here so early? It's not even seven?"

"What am I doing here? I was worried sick. I woke up and you weren't there."

"I know, Paul. This delivery just took a lot longer than expected. I'm sorry." She gave me a hug. "I'm sorry for making you worry."

"Next time, call. I don't care if it's in the middle of the night. Just call so I don't freak out."

"Okay." She rubbed her eyes. "Do you want to go and get some breakfast before work?"

"You are not seriously thinking of going to work, are you?"

"Paul, I have to go. I've got a ton of patients on the docket today."

"You haven't slept!"

"I know. I'll be fine. It's not the first time."

"Fine, you're not driving though."

"Fair enough. I won't go to the gym either."

"You were actually thinking of going to the gym?" I asked my gym nut wife with incredulity.

"Uh, yeah, I missed my workout yesterday too, but I'm pretty tired today."

I hugged my wife and kissed her atop her head. "Are you ready to go?"

"I just need to change out of these scrubs, then I'm all yours."

A few minutes later, we were sitting at our favorite little diner having breakfast. I was frustrated and upset because Bella simply worked too hard when she didn't need to. I knew that she enjoyed her career and she worked hard to get where she was, but still...I made enough money to support the two of us. I really wish she would quit her job.

"Bella, have you ever thought of dropping your hours down to part time?"

"Nope."

"It's just that I hate seeing you so tired."

"Paul, it was just one night."

"One night? You're coming home in the middle of the night at least once a week. That's not just one night."

"It's the career I chose, Paul." She rolled her eyes at me meaning that the subject was closed.

"Bella?"

"What is it, Paul?"

"I love you. You know that, don't you?"

"Of course I know. I love you, too, but you're not going to convince me to quit my job or drop my hours down to part time. I know where you're going with this. We've been over this before."

"Bella, these hours are unhealthy."

"And yours are too, sometimes. It's a risk we take when we do something that we love."

I sighed and accepted her reasoning. It wasn't fair for me to ask her to sacrifice her career just because I was worried about her. I still hated the hours she kept though. "I really wish you'd let me take care of you."

"You do, Paul. You do by just by letting me be me." She leaned over the table and kissed my lips. "I love you."

After breakfast, I drove Bella to work and told her that I'd pick her up around four p.m. I walked into my office to find Crispy sitting in a chair with a ton of paperwork to go over.

"You look beat, Paul."

"Just stressed out. Bella worked all night. When I woke up she wasn't in bed so I freaked out and drove straight to the hospital. She had just finished delivering a baby. I want her to quit working."

"You can't ask her to do that."

"I know, but I hate the hours involved with labor and delivery."

"It's the path she chose."

"I know that. I just hate seeing her so exhausted."

"Would you prefer that she resent you for making her quit?"

"Of course not."

"Well, then, buck up and put up with it. It's what she enjoys doing."

"Yeah, I guess I'll have to."

Sam and Jared walked inside a few minutes later. "Hey, guys, thanks for taking our boys to get their wrestling gear last night."

"No problem. We had fun with them."

"Uh, yeah, you two have become their new heroes for taking them to Hooters. Ryan couldn't stop talking about it. He said the waitresses were hot."

"They were okay. No big deal. Just a bunch of young chicks in tight outfits."

"Uh-huh and a fantasy come true for adolescent boys. So, why did you end up taking them?" Jared asked.

"I take it that Kim didn't explain what happened to the boys?"

"No, neither did Emily," Sam said.

"Ah." I relayed to them exactly what the boys told me happened when they went shopping with their mothers.

"Poor Sammy. Emily really tried to fit a cup up against him?"

"Right up against his nuts."

"Jesus! She can be so overprotective sometimes. Scratch that—all of the time. She's got to let him grow up."

"She'll get there someday, but she'll never stop worrying about him. She's a good mom."

"That she is."

**XOXO**

The week flew by after my brief spasm of worrying about Bella and now it was Friday night. We were at Sammy and Ryan's first wrestling meet. We meaning Sam, Jared, Crispy, Jeff, me, and our wives. Leah was here too. So far, Bella sat stunned and horrified at wrestling, and quite frankly, everyone else did too. Everyone, that is, except for Kim and Jeff. Jeff wrestled in high school so he assured us that the boys would be okay. And Kim seemed to be made out of teflon or something because, while I was cringing at how dangerous this sport seemed to be, she didn't even flinch when watching the matches.

"There can be up to three starting periods with each match. It depends on whether or not one of the boys' is pinned or not. They'll start in the neutral position where they're both standing and facing each other. If there's no pin in the first period, then they'll move on to the second period during which they'll start in what's called the referee's position. Well, you'll see," Jeff explained to all of us.

After three boys finished their matches, it was finally Sammy's turn. We all cheered raucously hoping to encourage him. Sammy looked confident going into the starting position. He and his opponent were facing each other.

"Sam, look at that other boy. He looks like a beast."

"He does not, Emily. He's shorter than Sammy. Besides, he's a she."

"Well, that girl looks vicious! What kind of a mother allows her daughter to wrestle? Why is this even a high school sport?"

As soon as the referee gave the signal to start, Sammy moved to...um... _Splat! _Sammy was pinned flat on his back and was staring straight up at the ceiling...no...at his opponent's tits.

"Aaagggh! Sammy, baby, are you okay?" Leah yelled in horror. "Aunty Leah's right here, honey!" Apparently, our shewolf's maternal side was making an appearance. Obviously, psychotic overprotective tendencies run in the family.

"Oh my God! You monster!" Emily screeched. "What kind of an evil girl are you? Get off of my baby!"

Sam yanked her back down to her seat and clamped his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet while Crispy did the same with Leah.

"Shouldn't we check him for a concussion?" Babs asked.

"Nah, he'll be fine. He's wearing head gear and the mat is padded. This is his first year wrestling. Generally, most high school wrestlers spend the first year staring up at the ceiling," Jeff chirped. "He'll be fine."

"Still, shouldn't I go and give him a quick look see? That girl was beastly."

"You'll embarrass him, Babs. Sit the hell down." Jeff looked over at Bella who was attempting to sneak down to check on Sammy. "You too, Bella."

I yanked my wife onto my lap and kept my arm firmly around her lest she try to escape to check on Sammy.

Sammy got up warily and the girl was declared the winner. He stared straight at her breasts the entire time. Okay, we're going to have to teach the boy how to be subtle when ogling a chick.

"That's okay, baby. You'll get 'em next time!" Emily shouted. "We can get some ice cream later!"

"And Aunty Leah will make your favorite brownies for you tomorrow!"

Sammy looked up towards the stands with a mortified expression on his face.

"Will you two cut it out! You're embarrassing him!" Sam chastised his wife and Leah.

"Oh, stop, Sam! I'm just showing our son that I'm behind him a hundred percent."

"Yeah, you're so insensitive. That...that girl he was wrestling was a brute!" Leah agreed; this coming from a she-wolf who could take out vampires.

One more pair went up and then it was Ryan's turn. Again, we all started cheering to encourage him. The referee gave the go ahead and the boys started circling each other. The other boy—obviously a seasoned wrestler—quickly took hold of Ryan and knocked him down for a pin. Ryan, unlike Sammy, was trying to wiggle his way out—of course, he didn't have a pair of breasts distracting him either. If I was his age and I had a guy on top of me, I'd be doing my best to get him off of me really quick.

"Keep those shoulders up, Ryan!" Jeff advised.

Kim suddenly stood up. "Don't take that crap from him, Ryan! This should be easy for you! Think about when your brothers jump on top of you!"

And with that, Ryan suddenly heaved the kid off of him and got back to standing position.

"Oh, yeah! Go Ryan!" I cheered.

"Okay, the other kid has two points for a takedown and Ryan has one point for an escape. He just has to take control of the situation quickly," Jeff explained.

"Show him what you're made of—you're a Cameron!" Kim bellowed.

The referee got them back into another starting position. The other boy got his arm around Ryan and took him down. Ryan wasn't going to go down without a fight. He clawed, wriggled, and refused to put even one shoulder down.

"Flip him over, boy! You know better than that!" Kim hollered.

Meanwhile, Jared was quaking in his boots in abject horror. "Shit, Paul—what if he breaks his shoulder or something. This sport isn't safe!"

Suddenly, Ryan clamped down on his opponent with his legs, flipped him, and took control of the situation.

We all stood up and started cheering for him.

"That's it, Ryan! Get his shoulders down on the mat!" Jeff was standing up and shouting out advice. "You've got the upper hand! Seize control!"

With all of his might, Ryan held down the kid's shoulders using his knees. The referee started counting and Ryan was declared the winner. We all stood up and cheered. In fact, everyone in the gym broke out in a wild applause.

"Yes, yes, yes! That's my boy!" Kim whooped.

I looked over to my right to see Jared sitting down and letting out a sigh of relief. "Glad that's over with. Did you see how big that kid Ryan was up against was?" Jared asked.

"He may have been tall, but he was lanky. He was still in Ryan's weight class," Jeff noted.

"I thought my heart was going to drop out of my chest." The poor guy looked like he was going to cry.

"Man, that was scary," Crispy added. "When I have kids, wrestling is completely out. I don't like fighting."

"Jeff, you've got to give my boy pointers," Sam told him. "I mean, he was...God...he didn't even attempt to fight back."

"No problem. I was planning on it already. He and Ryan can practice together. In fact, I have a friend who runs a wrestling studio over in Apache Junction. I'll take the boys there on Sunday morning. We have to get Sammy to at least resist a little."

"I know. I never thought my boy would be so...tame."

"It can be scary out there. We'll get his confidence up."

And this was what was nice about my pack. We were a family and we took care of each other no matter what. Tomorrow, we were heading to Number Six's football game to cheer him on and last week we had gone to Barry's daughter's piano recital and had given her a standing ovation even though she'd fumbled four times while playing 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.' We did this because we wanted all of the kids to feel happy, confident, and loved because they absolutely were—by all of us. And love is a wonderful thing.

**Ah, Emily! So overprotective. Do you think Sammy will survive his mother? What did you think of Ryan? And of Teflon Kim? Do you like how the pack is very supportive of all pack children? Do you think Bella should continue working or listen to Paul and quit? Does any of this really matter? Yes, it will in future chapters or I wouldn't be bringing these issues up. Let me know your thoughts on chapter 20 and I will get back to you.**

****For those of you following my other stories, I am currently working on completing them—one at a time. As soon as "You'll Find What You're Looking For At Walmart" is totally complete, I will begin posting again. After that, I will work on "Dates, Mates, Hate, and Fate and begin posting once it is totally complete. Intensity will continue posting as soon as I have a chapter ready. Thank you.**


	21. Chapter 21

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**This story is AU/OOC**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Paul's POV**

A week had gone by since Sammy and Ryan's wrestling match and we'd already been to another meet last night. Sammy was pinned immediately again while Ryan had another big win. Jeff said that he was a natural at wrestling. And Sammy? We were all hoping that he'd go and find a different sport, or even a non-sport, because the kid just wasn't a fighter. Scratch that, he wasn't athletic at all. Sure, we all went to the meets to support both boys, but the truth was—we were all scared to death that Sammy was going to get injured and possibly have to be carried out on a stretcher. Bella and Babs both had their medical bags with them and Randy even showed up at the meets now because he was terrified that Sammy would get hurt.

Tonight was my company's Christmas party. Like every year, all of my employees and their families were invited. We hired an entertainment company so that various booths were set up so the kids could enjoy themselves. We had an arts and crafts booth where the kids could personalize Christmas stockings; a table where kids could decorate gingerbread cookies; a booth where the kids could take pictures with Santa, and a dance floor where the DJ led them in the Hokey Pokey, the Chicken Dance, and more. We even brought in a bouncy house for the kids. We had a full buffet dinner catered in for everyone and we hired a company of psychics to do tarot card readings for the adults. It was a huge hit last year so we decided to continue the tradition this year. The Christmas party, along with the holiday bonuses and gift cards to the grocery store, went a long way in promoting employee satisfaction. It was very important to me that my employees were happy.

Bella and I walked around doing the standard meet and greet. It was a bit tedious, but something that needed to be done for the good of the company. These were my employees and their families and as their boss, it was my job to make sure that everyone felt at home here.

"The food is a huge hit. Hiring Penny and Mina to do the catering was a great idea. They've been hired to do the catering for the governor's ball through your recommendation, Paul. Plus, they've hired Kim to help them out. You have no idea how grateful she is for the job," my wife told me.

"They are phenomenal chefs and Kim isn't so bad either. None of them could hold a candle to you, though."

"Oh, stop, Paul. I only cook well because I love making the man eating my food happy."

"Bull, you cook well because you're pickier than anyone I know about your food."

"Well, that too, but really Paul, you're picky about your food too."

"That's only because you made me that way." I gave her a little squeeze. "Anyway, I've got some bad news. We can't go to London over Christmas. I'm just too busy and I have a ton of people that I need to hire."

"That's okay, we've got all the time in the world to go to London. I have a question, though. How are you planning on hiring workers with everyone on vacation? Your company is closed between Christmas and New Years."

Jeff is giving me a hand. The BIA sent out a job bulletin to all of the reservations stating that we were interviewing for positions. I'm giving Crispy, Tom, and Embry additional bonuses for helping me with the interviews. We're flying to several targeted locations in the United States over the course of two weeks—Washington, Montana, South Dakota, Virginia, and New York. Anyway, I was hoping that you'd come along with me because...well, because I can't be away from you for two weeks."

"What about the Four Corners?"

"I'm going to the Four Corners on Monday. It's near enough to drive to and come home."

"Okay, Mr. Lahote, a grand tour of the United States it shall be."

"Good because I forgot to mention that the first stop is going to be Alaska. We're going to hit Washington right around Christmas." She raised an eyebrow at me. "What? I promised Dad and Mom that we'd celebrate Christmas with them!"

"You dog! You purposely planned it that way."

"That's right and don't you forget it. Besides, I couldn't say no to them, especially after your dad did that disappointed sigh and Sue pouted at me."

"I suppose I can forgive you."

"Anyway, I've chartered a private jet for this—Babs, Jess, and Trina are coming along as well. Crispy and Embry refused to go unless they could bring their imprints along. I couldn't really blame them so I invited Trina as well. She and Tom shouldn't be apart over the holidays."

"You've got a heart of gold, Paul."

"I have my moments."

"Uncle Paul, Aunty Bella!" We turned towards the voice to see Quil's son loping towards us. He was a good-looking boy who had taken after his mother. Rachel was a very beautiful woman.

"Hi, Number Six."

"Guess what?"

"What?"

"Pappy is getting married!"

"Old Quil?"

"Yep, he asked Tolinka during dinner last night—before they went off to the in-law to have sex again."

"I thought the in-law was for your Grandpa Billy."

"Grandpa Billy said that he's happier at your house because my mom cooks like shit. I'm glad Tolinka can cook. I'm getting sick of chicken salad. Anyway, I'm here on man business."

"Don't swear, boy," I chastised first before asking, "Man business?"

"Yeah, why did you take Ryan and Sammy to Hooters and not me?"

"They needed wrestling equipment and we just went out for a quick bite."

"Well, I don't think it's fair that they got to go and not me."

"I'll tell you what, Number Six. What if I take you to Hooters? I've always wanted to try their wings," Bella offered.

"Um, no offense, Aunty Bella, but Hooters is a man place. You can take me to my school dance in February."

"No dice, kiddo," I told him, "but I'll see what I can do about taking you to Hooter's."

"Uncle Crispy too?"

"Yep, with Uncle Crispy too."

"Woohoo!" Number Six gave me a hug then scampered away to find Ryan and Sammy—no doubt to brag.

"One day those boys are going to have girlfriends and you'll no longer be the apple of their eye, Bella. What are you going to do then?"

"Meh, I'll still have you. I'll survive."

I took her hand and we continued with the meet and greet. We had a busy few weeks coming up and this was just the beginning. Tomorrow night, we had a holiday party to attend in Oklahoma at the mansion of the Oklahoma governor and his wife who had become fast friends with Bella. They had a ton in common and, after Bella mentioned that I was hiring workers for the highway project and focusing on Native American reservations for new hires, she put her full support behind the measure and was now helping to actively put the word out. The senator from New Mexico was also lending a hand, going so far as sending out notices to pueblos in his state.

**_Tuesday afternoon..._**

Rita, Crispy's secretary and Jeff's mother, came rushing into my office with a frantic look on her face. She shut the door and made sure it was locked before rushing to my side.

"You need to get to the reservation. Elvis called." Elvis was Randy's grandfather—the vet. Yeah, I laughed when I first heard his name too. "He said that Leah's been stuck in wolf form since the day after the party and she can't phase back."

"What?"

"You heard me, young man. Now get!" She pinched my arm and shooed me out of her office—I mean my office. I swear, my lawyer's secretary—who just happens to be the mother of one of my pack brothers, is abusing me. What did I ever do to deserve having a mother on site? I pay her salary for God's sake.

When I got to the parking lot, Crispy asked, "Your truck or my car?"

"You drive, my arm hurts. Your secretary pinched me."

"Yeah, she does that if you don't listen to her right away."

"Hang on, I'm coming with you," Quil said, jumping into the back seat. "Your secretary pinched my arm. She said I had to go with you guys."

"I'm sorry about that guys. I'd talk to her, but then she'll tell my mom and..."

"Say no more, Crispy. We'll just have to put up with it. Besides, it helps to have her as a contact person."

"That's for sure," Quil agreed. "So, what's going on with Leah?"

"I don't know. Rita said something about her being unable to phase back. Apparently, Elvis has her in one of the horse stables. There aren't any horses there at the moment."

This was nuts! I want to know how many other executives of multi-billion dollar corporations have to go through this sort of nonsense. I wager none.

We arrived at Elvis's clinic, which was housed at a secluded section of the Wa-Ya Indian Reserve. Crispy pulled up in front of the stable. We noticed that Bella, Randy, and Babs were all here along with another vehicle. The three of us quickly rushed out of the car, then suddenly, Quil and I froze. We smelled leech.

Bella calmly walked out of the stable. "I know what you're scenting guys. Don't phase."

"Oh, you'd better have a fucking stellar explanation for this, wife!"

"First of all, keep it together, Paul. He's here to help. Second, he was here before I arrived. Elvis called him. I only found out an hour ago when I got here."

"Um, what's that nasty, bleachy smell?" Crispy asked, crinkling his nose.

"It's the scent of vampire."

"Ah..."

"Hey, I thought you said that you met some vampires from Oklahoma?"

"I've never met them. I only know of them. My grandfather's generation was the last to have met them."

"Are you two calm enough to come inside?" Bella asked Quil and me.

"Yes, but you stay right by my side."

"Oh, cut it out. I've suffered open wounds in front of vampires and survived. Besides, the god of the underworld created this guy; he has no bloodlust except for that of predatory animals. He won't hurt me. He might eat you, though." She smiled at me with a devilish grin.

"You scare the shit out of me sometimes, my dear."

We walked inside to find Leah in wolf form, sprawled on her back, with what looked like cabbage leaves all over her...okay, this was confusing as all hell.

"Hello, Paul," Elvis greeted. "I'd like for you to meet a friend of mine. Dr. Gomdah this is Mr. Paul Lahote—alpha of the Quileute-WaYa Brotherhood. Paul, Dr. Gomdah has been a friend of mine for many decades now. We went to veterinary school together. He came here to assist with Leah's problem; which, by the way, has almost been rectified. Dr. Gomdah is with the Wanagi Nation. Crispy has related their tribe's history to you before, if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes, he has. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Gomdah." It was so weird meeting a Native American vampire. His skin wasn't as pale as the Cullens. He was still a bit tan, but pasty. His eyes were golden like the Cullens though.

"We're pretty sure that we've cured Leah's engorgement problem; however, she's been in wolf form since Saturday morning and has been unable to phase back no matter how much she tries. We even phased with her to try to coax her back so at this point, we figured that you and Crispy could attempt to give her an alpha order," Elvis explained.

"What ended up being the problem?"

"Ah, well, it was her body being unable to distinguish itself between wolf and human form. A human female has two mammary glands, whereas a lactating wolf bitch has ten," Dr. Gomdah told us.

I had to take a deep breath so I didn't burst out laughing. Of course, neither Quil nor Crispy could control himself and both started guffawing on the spot. Both Babs and Bella gave them the nastiest scowls they could muster and started muttering about how insensitive they were. Inside, I was laughing just as hard—does that mean that she has ten titties? Five on each side?

"In any case, after we discovered her mammary gland issue, it was a matter of unearthing her unused mammary glands in wolf form and expressing her milk so she could start the weaning process."

"Um, okay." I really couldn't stand biology in school and hearing about Leah's extra wolf titties was nauseating. On top of that, the bleachy vampire smell was unnerving. "So, how can I help?"

"You need to phase and coax her back to human form, Paul. Both you and Crispy."

"Okay, let's do this."

Crispy, Quil, and I took our suits off and phased immediately. Well, first we handed our suits off to our wives so they wouldn't get wrinkled. God, I feel like such a pussy when I say stuff like that, but damn it, suits are expensive and so is dry cleaning. Even Quil gave Bella his suit—Rachel would probably have a fit if he got one stain on his suit.

"_Leah? How are you doing?"_

"_I'm feeling better, but I can't phase back."_

"_Why not?"_

"_I'm a freak, Paul. I have ten mammary glands. I'm not meant to be human."_

"_Yes, you are. And if you're a freak, then we're all freaks. How many normal humans do you know that can shift into animal form at will?"_

"_Do you realize how embarrassed I was? I had to have a vampire diagnose me. He's really a nice guy, by the way. But still, it was embarrassing. After Randy phased in, he called Bella and Babs to help with the treatment because I was so...ashamed."_

"_You've got nothing to be ashamed about," _Crispy told her. _"You're the mother of four children and you're doing a wonderful job raising them. This is just a minor obstacle—a tiny health glitch that has now been resolved."_

"_Oh, sure, I don't see other women with this health problem. I'm a defect."_

_"You're not a defect, Leah," _Quil chimed in._ "Nursing is tough on women as it is, and weaning is even harder. Don't you remember how much pain Rachel was in, each time she had to wean one of our kids? And what about Emily? She was miserable because her milk ducts became infected. Many women have trouble with nursing and weaning. You're not any different."_

_"Quil! I have ten breasts!"_

_"You only have ten breasts when you're a wolf, not when you're human. A normal she-wolf has ten breasts and a normal human woman has two. You just happened to run into a minor hiccup this time because you phased while nursing."_

_"Yeah, but…"_

_"But what, Leah? I'm only going to say this once. You're a phenomenal woman. You're able to take out vampires one hour and bake cookies for your kids the next. I don't know any woman that can do that, do you?" _Quil continued when Leah didn't say anything. _"You gave birth at home to all of your kids because you couldn't go to a hospital. You made the best of a situation that you had no control over. Don't let the fact that you're a wolf consume you. Embrace it. Now, I've had it with your self-deprecation. Leah Clearwater Yorkie, I'm ordering you to return to human form so you can go home and mother your children!"_

_"Uh, yeah, and that's an alpha order!"_ I added, because I had to put in my two cents, didn't I? Quite frankly, I couldn't have added anything to what Quil told Leah. I was impressed with the way he handled the situation.

"_And I second that order!" _Crispy agreed.

It took all of five seconds for Leah to phase back and be standing nude in the horse stall. Quil phased back and Leah dropped into his arms and let him hold her. I had to hand it to the guy; he was being really sensitive.

"Thanks, Quilly," Leah whispered.

"Don't mention it." He looked perplexed before speaking again, "Yeah, definitely do not mention it."

"The fact that you can be sensitive is safe with me. Although, I bet Rachel is already aware of that fact."

Quil shrugged his shoulders. "Probably."

Bella rushed to Leah's side and covered her up with a towel before leading her into the clinic. Babs rushed inside to assist and we could hear Leah pouring her heart out to both ladies.

"Good job, Quil," I commended.

"Yeah, well, maybe I have my moments."

"You definitely do."

"Man, it's tough having a female shape shifter on our team," Crispy commented. "I mean, they get all emotional and stuff."

"If you think a female shape shifter is tough, try dealing with a female vampire. Just one little thing can set them off," Dr. Gomdah returned.

"What are female vampires like?"

"Like normal women. The only difference is that vampire brains seem to be more attuned to everything. It's very uncanny. I still remember being human and I don't recall becoming so engrossed in every little thing I do and feel as I do now."

"Interesting," I murmured.

"Mr. Lahote, your imprint had an odd reaction to me. She is the very first human that I've met who didn't even bat an eyelash upon meeting me. Usually, humans cringe in fear. In fact, the first thing she said to me was, _'_Don't eat me. I know my blood is especially tempting.'" _Oh, Bella, Bella, Bella—why? _"Anyway, I informed her that her blood was, in fact, not tempting to me because—for one thing, my breed of vampire only craves the blood of predatory animals—ironically, not wolves or coyotes; and two, she has your scent infused with her blood and that is particularly rancid smelling to me."

"What was her reply to that?" I had to ask.

"I told him that it was a relief to me that I no longer smell sweet to vampires," Bella replied, walking into the room. "Um, Babs is going to take Leah home and give her a check up to make sure all is well with her."

"Isn't Babs a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner?"

"Yeah, but she knows how to do adult physicals as well."

"So, Mrs. Lahote, how do you know about vampires?" Dr. Gomdah asked.

"I used to date one."

"And you survived?"

"He wanted me to stay human."

"He must have had incredible restraint." _I'd say. My God, I lasted less than twenty-four hours with Bella._

"Yes."

"I'd like to hear more about this vampire that you dated."

"Maybe someday. He's not exactly my favorite topic."

"I apologize for my intrusion. It's just that I've never met a human who has had contact with vampires."

"It was a long time ago."

"Ah." With that, Dr. Gomdah dropped the topic, thank God, because Bella looked extremely uncomfortable.

We left the reservation after that. All of us had _had _long weekends and we were anxious for a bit of a respite—at least for an evening.

**XOXO**

**Bella's POV**

Almost two weeks after Leah returned home to La Push, we were there ourselves. We had just flown in from Alaska where Paul and his crew had conducted job interviews in Anchorage. Before that, we had done interviews in Oregon and Montana. The last three days had been exhausting. We were going to be staying at my father's place along with Crispy and Babs. Tom and Trina were staying at Josh and Alison's house while Embry and Jess were at her parent's house in Forks. I knew one thing, I'll be happy never to set foot in Alaska again. I thought I'd never be warm again. Even Paul, Embry, and Crispy were wearing coats because it was so cold.

Crispy, Babs, Paul, and I had just arrived in La Push and were currently staring at my father's Christmas decorations. Paul's eyes were bulging out in absolute horror. Dad had attached the Christmas lights to the exterior of the house, alternating between green and red duct tape. I had to admit that it looked kind of cute. It looked much nicer than the silver duct tape that he used to use on the house in Forks.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to hire someone to paint the house after the holidays are over," Paul muttered.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because, Bella, the duct tape is going to rip some of the paint off when it's peeled off. The exterior is going to be damaged and this is La Push—with all of the rain, the wood will quickly become damaged."

"Paul, you're over-exaggerating. My dad has always used duct tape to put up the Christmas decorations with. It's never hurt anything."

"And this is why you're not allowed near any adhesive products except for medical tape and band aids," Babs quipped from the side. "You can be so damned clueless sometimes."

I looked up at my husband and friends with a big scowl and a pout. I was certainly not clueless. Paul chuckled and tweaked my nose. "I love you, Bella. Just stay away from tools and glue and I promise you that we'll have a long, happy marriage."

Before we could knock, my father opened the door. "Hey, kids. Good to see you." He noticed my sour face. "What's the matter, kiddo?"

"They're all being mean to me."

"Why?"

"They claim that I should stay away from tools and adhesive products. Apparently, I suck at them."

"Now that's not true. I still have all of those nifty t-shirts that you made for me using glitter glue. You're really talented, kiddo."

I humphed at Paul who stood there shaking his head at us. At least my father had faith in my ability with adhesives. I walked inside of the house followed by my husband, Crispy, and Babs. Greetings were exchanged and we all settled into our rooms to drop off our bags before heading back out to the living room to hang out with my dad and Sue.

"So, how is everyone doing?" Sue asked.

"Good, good. Kim is working for Mina and Penny at their catering business. It's working out great because they don't mind if she brings the baby with her to work because Penny has her kids there. That actually saves Trina. I have no idea how she manages to babysit all of those kids."

"Trina's always had boatloads of patience. She loves children. I've never heard her raising her voice—ever."

"Unlike Mom," Leah snorted as she walked into the house with Baby Izzy.

"That's because you and Seth were such rascals," Sue replied fondly, taking the baby from her daughter. She cuddled her happily then looked up at Paul and me. "So, when are you two going to give me grandbabies?"

_Oh, not this again. _I wiggled uncomfortably in my seat. Fortunately, my husband answered her for me, "Not for awhile. We're still young."

"Young? Young? You should have at least two by now! I don't understand this whole young thing. Why don't you want to give us grandbabies?"

"It's not that we don't want to give you grandbabies, it's just that we're not in any sort of rush to be parents. We still have a ton of things to accomplish."

"Yeah," Babs agreed, nodding her head furiously.

"You kids don't understand the joys of parenthood." She turned to Leah. "Honey, tell Bella how wonderful it is to be a mother."

Leah smiled at her mother then at me. "Take your time. You don't want to become a parent until you're ready, trust me. Kids are wonderful, but they require a lot of hard work and sacrifice."

"You traitor!" Sue yelled. "You were supposed to help me convince them to start having children before Charlie and I become too old to care for their babies!"

"Mother, be happy with the seven grandchildren you have. Paul and Bella will start having children when they're ready."

Sue handed Baby Isabella off to Charlie, then immaturely crossed her arms in front of her chest and started blathering about how she would be in a walker by the time Paul and I decided to give her grandbabies to take care of.

"Well, Sue, you won't be in a walker if you start hitting the gym with Dad and Billy," I told her.

"Bella's right, Mom. You should think about getting in shape in your advanced years," Leah agreed.

"Are you implying that I'm old and out of shape?"

"You're the one who said you'd be in a walker by the time Paul and Bella have kids."

"I'll have you know that I am not old nor am I out of shape! I work full time as a labor and delivery nurse. I'm on my feet all day! I happen to look great for an almost fifty-two year old! Have you seen Brenda Fuller? She's four years younger than I am and she looks like an old hag!"

"Susie, honey, you need to calm down," my father told her.

"Calm down? Calm down? For some reason, Bella and Leah think that I'm old! What kind of daughters do we have?"

"Honey, it's that menopause—it's affecting your emotions."

"Oh, I hate this. I'm always exhausted, the hot flashes are killing me, and gah…no one said that nausea was a part of menopause."

_Nausea? _Babs and I both turned to each other at the same time with perplexed expressions on our faces. Nausea wasn't exactly a common symptom of menopause.

"Sue, when was your last period?" Babs asked.

"I don't know. My cycle has been sporadic these last few months. I've only had spotting for about four months now."

Leah, who had caught on, turned to Babs and me. Is there any chance that either of you are pregnant?" We both shook our heads in the negative. Her eyes widened and she asked Paul and Crispy, "Do you guys hear an extra heartbeat in the house? There should only be eight, but I hear nine."

"What are you saying?" Sue asked, her eyes round with fear.

"Um, Mom," Paul announced, "I think you're pregnant." Of course, my husband would have no tact at all and just blurt it out.

"Pregnant? How?"

"What the hell do you mean by how? I give it to you at least twice a week!" my father roared.

"Well, I didn't think...Charlie...your swimmers...doesn't male sperm count decrease with age?"

"Hey! I'm a Swan! We're virile!

Oh, boy, I really don't want to be here for this. "Yeah, um, Babs and I are going to Forks Outfitters to pick up a pregnancy test for..."

"Don't you even think for one moment that you're going to leave me here with them!" Leah interrupted. She grabbed the baby and we bolted out of the house. Crispy and Paul came rushing behind us. We hopped into our rental SUV, buckled the car seat in, and started driving.

"I can't believe you girls were going to leave us behind and make us listen to an argument about parental sex!" Crispy yelled.

"Well, I'm sorry—once my father started discussing his sex life, I became desperate to leave. My brain isn't built to take in that sort of information!"

"Yeah? Well, neither is mine, Bella!"

Paul drove to the diner in Forks where we all sat to have some lunch. "That was weird," he sighed, putting an arm around me.

"Did you really hear an extra heartbeat?" Babs asked.

"Oh, yeah. That ninth heartbeat was loud and clear and it was coming straight from Mom." I found it kind of funny how Paul referred to Sue as 'mom' and I didn't. I just wasn't comfortable calling her 'mom' when I had my own mom in Florida. It's just like how I could never bring myself to call Phil, 'dad.'

"What can I get for you?" the waitress asked us.

We quickly placed our orders then went back to our discussion. "Can a fifty-two year old woman become pregnant?" Paul asked.

"It's rare, but possible. A woman can become pregnant until she reaches full menopause. That's when her period has completely stopped for a full year. I suspect that Sue's been releasing an errant egg or two for the last few months."

"Yeah, but...she's...old. She's a grandmother."

"Age doesn't make her any less of a woman."

"I know that, Bella. I'm just saying—she's getting up there in years to have a baby."

We dropped the conversation and updated Leah on what's been happening in Arizona over lunch. She in turn updated us on the Jake situation, "He filed for legal separation. The judge granted him full custody of the kids with no visitation rights for Angela. He also issued a continuance on the restraining order Dad put through. What else? Oh, she's responsible for her own car payments and for the credit card bill. She ran up almost seventeen grand during the last three months."

"Seventeen grand?" I asked. "What did she buy?"

"Clothes, shoes, handbags, make-up, you name it. It was all for herself. The judge ordered that Angela's name be removed from the credit cards and responsibility for those charges be transferred to her. He said that this would not impact Jake's credit rating at all. I'm not sure how it's done, but it was all done through the courts."

"If Bella ran up seventeen grand, she'd have a ton of explaining to do," Paul commented.

"Yeah, and you guys can afford it."

After lunch, we stopped at Forks Outfitters then returned to my father's and Sue's house with the pregnancy test. Sue took it immediately and went to the bathroom.

"_Oh, Taha Aki—whyyy?"_ we heard her yelling after a few minutes.

"Good to know that you and I weren't the only accidents in the family," Leah quipped. "In fact, it seems like mom and dad have a history of accidents."

Meanwhile, my father was having a breakdown of his own. "Oh God. I'm not going to be able to retire for at least...I don't know...twenty-one more years. I'll be seventy-three by then." His eyes widened. "Nooo—my fishing boat. I'm never going to be able to buy that fishing boat now."

"What was it that you used to tell Seth? Oh, yeah, now I remember. It was 'wrap it up.' I guess you forgot your own rule, huh Dad?" Leah told him.

"Daddy? Are you okay?" I asked. He looked blue in the face.

"Oh, I'll be fine. Bella, sweetie, you'll look after your little brother or sister after I die, won't you?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Daddy, you aren't going to die."

"Yes, I am. I'm too old to be a father again. I'm going to die before the little tyke turns five. I won't even be able to teach him how to swing a baseball bat or throw a football." I can't believe he's actually whimpering.

"How do you know it's going to be a boy?"

"I'm due! After you and Leah—I'm due for a boy!"

"You had Seth."

"He doesn't count. Harry got to raise him up until the point he became a rebellious teenager. Then I got him."

"Hang on? How come Bella gets to take care of the baby if you die?" Leah asked.

Sue suddenly walked out of the bathroom and turned exorcist at that moment. "Because she and Paul are determined not to give us grandbabies and we want them to know the joy of parenting!"

_How the hell did this get turned onto us?_

"Exactly!" my father agreed. "Obviously, they don't care about our feelings!"

"Daddy, I swear to God, if you keep this crap up, Paul and I are going to go and stay at a hotel!"

"You wouldn't hurt your old man's feelings, would you? Tomorrow is Christmas Eve."

"Well, you're hurting mine every time you push me to have a baby. I'm not ready. It's that simple."

"Sorry, baby girl. I guess I'm excited for you to be a parent because...well...because you're such a great kid and I know you'd be a terrific mom."

"It might be because I had pretty decent parents myself."

"Yeah, I suppose you did...even if your mom is out there."

"Dad!"

"Well, she is. She's a nutter. At least I know Susie's only half as crazy as Renee. This new baby may have a chance of getting through life unscathed."

"Stop! Mommy might be a little scatterbrained, but she's got a ton of love in her heart." I paused to think, then added, "Just not for you."

"Hey, at least we both agree on two things then: we can't stand each other, but we love you. That's progress."

"It sure is, Daddy."

**So now you have an answer to Leah's breastfeeding issue. Can you understand why she feels as if she's less than a woman? What did you think of how Quil handled the situation? Were you surprised by his sensitivity? What about Paul and his employee Christmas party? Do you think it's wise of him to show appreciation to his employees by throwing a big Holiday shindig for the whole family? Paul and his team are in La Push now. Do you think he'll get enough employees hired during his grand tour of reservations? Do you like Charlie's ornamental duct tape? Do you think Charlie and Sue will survive parenthood once again? Do you think Charlie and Bella can be trusted with adhesives? Do you think Bella will always be Charlie's little girl? Let me know how you feel about chapter 21 of Intensity and I'll get back to you.**


	22. Chapter 22

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Paul's POV**

The following day, Christmas Eve, was chaotic for everyone. Bella and Babs accompanied Sue to the tribal clinic while Crispy, Tom, Embry, and I conducted job interviews in La Push. Desperate applicants from area reservations and surrounding towns inundated our job fair. The area was so depressed that people were desperate for employment.

"Hi, Paul," Rick Longtree, my former classmate who I'd given some under the table work to, greeted me. He looked anxious, but determined.

"Hey, how are you? How can I help you?" I looked up to see his wife standing next to him. I stood up to give Mary a hug. She had also graduated with me from the tribal school.

"Paul, thank you for what you did for our family last month. We truly appreciate the help you gave us."

"It was my pleasure. How are the repairs going?"

"Good, we finished up both roofing jobs. We're just waiting on the windows," Rick said.

"Excellent."

Mary kept nodding her head at Rick in encouragement. He sighed and said, "Paul, I need a job. Desperately. I have some construction experience and I'm a top-notch carpenter. I don't do drugs, I have a high school diploma, and I'm a hard worker. I don't want anything permanent—just temporary. I love La Push and I can't imagine my kids growing up anywhere but here."

"You understand that temporary in this case would be over the course of at least three to five years, don't you?"

"I do. I read your information sheet. I just...we're poor Paul and we need a leg up. I tried my best here. I tried setting up my own carpentry business with Jason and Chris, but that didn't garner enough business. I worked for the tribal maintenance department after that, but I quit after I didn't get paid for two straight months. I..."

"Wait. What did you say?"

"Huh?"

"Did you just say that you didn't get paid for two months while working for tribal maintenance?"

"Yeah, Fuller said they ran out of money. They didn't even have enough in the coffers to pay for repair supplies. It's pathetic—you should see the supply shed. It's bare."

"Thanks for the information. I'm sure Chief Black will want to talk to you about this later."

"No problem. So, do you have a job for me?"

"You'll have to sit for an interview just like everyone else. I need to look over your resume and see what you can and can't do. Do you have your paperwork?"

"I do, but I'd prefer it if you didn't call my last job for a reference. I kind of had it out with Tony Fuller when I left. I'm not exactly well-liked by him."

"Don't worry about that. I'm glad you were up front about it with me. Why don't we talk about the experience you do have? Then, I can tell you more about what jobs I might have available for you."

"Thank you, Paul."

"Mary, if you'll excuse us—I'd like to begin our interview now."

"Of course and...and...Please tell your wife thank you for the groceries and the lasagna. We were so touched and they came at just the right time. I know you paid our light bill as well. It really was so sweet of you."

"Honestly, it was no problem."

"Thank you again, Paul. I'll leave now so you can do your job."

And this is how it's been all day. People who Embry, Tom, or I knew have been approaching us and begging for work—any work. Jason and Chris, the two other classmates who I gave jobs to, also stopped by for interviews. There were people from Forks sent by Charlie and Jessica's father as well. I had one guy without a high school diploma tell me that he would do anything—even clean toilets at my company. I had to turn him down and explain to him that even the janitors who worked for me had high school diplomas or GED's. The rule was firmly in place and I couldn't budge on it no matter what the position. I gave him my contact information and told him that he was free to apply for a position after he earned his diploma, then sent him to another booth that Josh Uley was running. He was taking names of tribal members who were interested in obtaining a GED. Those who weren't members of our tribe would be promptly referred to the adult education department of their respective tribes. I was pleased to see that this guy actually stopped and asked Josh for help. About twenty percent of all applicants were high school dropouts who had to be turned away, and roughly two thirds of those without diplomas left without stopping to see Josh. I really felt bad for these people—until they learned that a basic education was the very first step towards a better life—they would always be stuck in their rut. Fortunately, I knew that Rick had a high school diploma; he graduated with me after all.

After completing the interview with Rick, I called the next number. I looked up to see Joe Cameron, Jared's father, standing in front of me. He handed his resume, proof of his diploma, list of references, and a completed application to me. "I just got pink slipped over at the mill. That was our main source of income. With Jenny having the baby, I need to be able to support the family. I have absolutely no construction experience, but I'm handy with tools. I taught both you and Jared everything I knew when you were kids. I'm strong. I'm a fast learner and a hard worker. I don't take drugs. I rarely even drink—I can't afford beer. The point is: I need a job, Paul."

"You know I'm not going to say no to you, Joe. You and Jane took me into your home because my mother was incapable of raising me and treated me no different from your children. That's something I'll never be able to repay you for."

"Paul, we did what we thought was right. You had no support out there. Excuse me if I'm overstepping my boundaries, but I once caught your mother trading some of her food stamps for vodka—from that point on, Jane and I made a vow to at least keep you fed in my house. We discussed it with others on the reservation like Josh Uley and Sue Clearwater and we all made a pact to keep you as safe and well fed as possible. No matter how much of a smart ass you were, you were still just a child. This is how the Quileute are—we are good people in our hearts and we make sure that tribal members don't go hungry."

Well, shit. No wonder we hardly ever had food in the house when I was growing up. My mom was trading in the food stamps for liquor and probably cigarettes too. Somehow, I lucked out and made it, but how many more kids like me were on this reservation and other ones? I decided to change the subject. "You'll have to move away from La Push though. Is that something you want to do?"

"I'm willing. I'll do anything. I just don't want Jane and the kids to have to suffer. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened." And this is exactly why Joe Cameron was such a great father. He loved his wife and his kids. My parents couldn't stand each other or me—heck, they probably couldn't even stand themselves.

"Alright, I need you to drive to Forks and take a drug test. Here's the paperwork. I'll stop by at your house later and we'll discuss this further."

"You're a good man, Paul."

"I had a great role model when I was growing up," I told him, looking him directly in the eye.

He put one strong, rough, calloused hand on my shoulder, "Thank you, son."

I nodded my head, watched him walk away, and sighed. What the hell was going on? Why were we living in a world where good, hard-working people were getting laid off? When were people like Joe Cameron going to get a break? I scanned the room in front of me and realized that I couldn't do it all on my own. Hell, I was just one kid and it took several families on the reservation to keep me safe from my parents—the two people who should have had my security at the forefronts of their minds. I had so much to do in La Push. I truly owed it to the members of my tribe to make life better for them. I wasn't so naïve as to blame the entirety of the mess on the reservation on Tony Fuller either—somewhere along the line, lackadaisical management and fiscal carelessness decimated the tribe and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.

A little after six pm, we finally finished with the interviews and parted ways to reunite with our wives. Embry came along with Crispy and me because he and Jess were joining us. We walked in through the front door to find the entire house devoid of any women. Charlie, Billy, Seth, Colin, Jacob, and Eric were planted in front of the big screen amidst a myriad of home cooked dishes.

"Where are the girls?" I asked.

"Leah's hosting another Pampered Chef Party," Eric Yorkie informed me.

"On Christmas Eve?"

"It's exclusively for your wives—the general public isn't invited."

"When did Leah decide to do this?"

"While I was at work. I didn't bother finding out the reasons behind it, I just bolted out of the house before she handed the kids over to me."

"Where are everyone's kids anyway?"

"They were over at my house when I left. Bella was having them make Santa hats and Christmas stockings with glitter glue."

"Bella with glue?" Embry asked, horrified. "Are the kids going to be okay?"

Before I could answer, Josh, Tom, and Old Quil walked into the house. Josh was carrying a couple of homemade pies. Old Quil on the other hand asked, "Can one of you grab the keg from Josh's truck?"

"I'm on it," Eric offered and went outside. A minute later, he walked back in sweaty and out of breath. "Erm, I could use some help—it's kind of heavy."

I stood up and went outside. Of course, I could have carried the thing in by myself, but Eric insisted on helping so I had to let him so he felt useful. It couldn't be easy being the only male imprint amongst us supernatural wolves and coyotes. While he was lacking in physical strength, Eric made up for it in brainpower. About three years ago, tired of working as a computer programmer, he began his own IT consulting firm. He utilized his connections and Leah's and soon began picking up jobs in Forks. His fair prices and excellent customer follow up combined with genuine knowledge of his field garnered him a stellar reputation which soon started spreading beyond Forks and throughout the State of Washington.

"How are things going with your business?"

"Busy as usual. I'll be gone during the week for most of the first three months of the year. I picked up a contract with Bank One Washington redoing their whole system."

"That must be a huge contract. Are you hiring any employees?"

"No, not yet. The job is still manageable solo. I do have a question for you though."

"Shoot."

"You know how you have your BIA friend looking into the tribe's files?"

"Yep."

"I'd like to help him."

"How?"

"Well, after I'm done with the bank, I have a month before the next job starts. I could fly down to Phoenix and try to extract as much info from the hard drives. You see, chances are that Tony Fuller has accessed his personal records from his work computer—if he has, then I can get to them."

"I can pay you for this," I told him.

"Paul, let me do this for the pack. You've done so much already for us—Bella delivered our baby and helped Leah with her lactation problem; let me pay you back in my own small way. It's the only way I can think of to give back."

"You don't need to give back, Eric. We're a pack, it's what we do."

"How about if you just give my ego a boost and let me do this for you?"

"You'll at least let me pay for your flight and any expenses while you're in Phoenix, won't you?"

"If you insist, but you don't need to. I'm staying at your house, you know."

"You're welcome anytime."

"Good, I'll call you as soon as I wrap up the bank job."

"Sounds good." I patted Eric on the back. "Thanks, man."

We carried the keg into the house and dug into the food and beer. We were watching a game on TV and simply having a good time male bonding. More and more guys from the neighborhood stopped by with food and drinks minus their wives. Rick, Jason, and Chris all stopped by and so did Joe Cameron. It occurred to me that this might be some sort of a yearly tradition where the men hang out and watch the game while the women... What in heck were the ladies doing?

**Bella's POV**

Babs dragged Jess and me out of Leah's house and the three of us started walking until we were a good distance away.

"What is it?"

"I had to get away. Did you see how many kids there were? Why the hell are the women in charge of the kids?"

"Beats me. I'm just as lost as you are. This is my first Christmas here in years."

"It's just how it's always been," Jess explained. "The women like to give the men a break so they could watch the game and hang out without kids on Christmas Eve."

"Um, the three of us are not mothers!" Babs pointed out.

"Thank God for that. You know, I used to want a baby desperately when I was married to Mike, but now I want to hold off for a bit longer and focus on simply enjoying my time with Embry. I have a feeling that when I was with my-ex, I wanted to have a baby in hopes that it might bring us closer together. We had such a terrible relationship. We were so disconnected."

"Well, of course you were disconnected. The guy was a lying, cheating prick!" Babs spat venomously. She loved Jess and she hated how Mike had hurt her, even if it was in the past.

"You've got a point there, Babs. Mike was definitely all of those things, but I think he was genuinely in love with Lauren, too. I heard that they have four kids together now with a fifth on the way."

"Five? Jess, if you were still married to that creepazoid ex of yours, you would have been some sort of a breeding vessel."

"Impossible, he rarely was able to get it up around me and when he was able to—he couldn't keep it standing."

"No way! How was he able to produce children with Lauren?" I asked.

"Bella, the reason why Mike wasn't able to perform with me was because he was having sex with Lauren during the day while I was at work. Her apartment was located directly across the street from Newton's Olympic Outfitters, and to make matters worse—it came out during our divorce trial that he'd been paying her rent and living expenses. It also came out that she was pregnant again."

"Oh. My. God."

"Here's the thing, I couldn't really blame him for doing that—those were his kids and he had an obligation to support them."

"Yeah, but you were bringing an income in as well."

"I know; that's why the judge awarded me our house. Mike essentially had to pay off what we owed on the mortgage. When he said that he didn't make enough to do that, the judge ordered him to borrow against his share of ownership in Newton's Olympic Outfitters."

"Is that what he did or did his parents bail him out?" I questioned.

"Of course his parents bailed him out. They have two things they love in their lives: Mike and Newton's. Anyway, in the end, I got the house, a settlement of fifty thousand dollars, plus my attorneys fees taken care of."

"How long after the divorce did you meet Embry?"

"Just a few months later. After the school year ended, I switched to teach at the Tribal School in La Push because I didn't want to have to teach at the same school that Mike and Lauren's kids attended. Anyway, Embry and Quil were rewiring the school. I arrived to set up my classroom and Embry was standing on a ladder working on some wires in the ceiling. He looked down to identify himself and to tell me how long the job would take—that's when he imprinted on me. He was in such shock that he fell off of the ladder and landed right on top of my right foot. I had to go to the emergency room because I broke it."

"That has got to be the most romantic imprinting tale I've heard. It's so Embry."

"I know." Jess turned curiously to Babs. "How did you and Crispy meet?"

"Oh, our story is pretty boring. We were both on the debate team together in high school when he took one look into my eyes and realized that I was his mate. It was the one and only time that he ever lost a debate."

"How old were you when he imprinted on you?" I asked.

"We were both freshmen in high school."

"You've been with Crispy since you were fourteen? Hold on, how old was he when he first phased?"

"Our guys are a bit different from yours. They all phase on their thirteenth birthday."

"That's so young!"

"I know, but they'd been prepared for the day by their fathers and grandfathers so they knew it was going to happen. They didn't suddenly morph into coyotes one day without warning like your wolves did. They'd been educated about their impending fates from the moment they were born."

"You just nailed the difference between the coyotes and the wolves right on the head, Babs. The wolves were ill prepared and so were the elders who were supposed to be mentoring them; meanwhile, the coyotes had support from the get go. It's knowledge and education that got your guys where they are today—I wish our guys had the same support, but the supernatural works in weird ways."

How right Jessica was. When I saw how much guys like Jared, Sam, and Brady were struggling, I became angry at the circumstances that landed them in their situations. The wolves and the coyotes were similar yet worlds apart when it came to their backgrounds. I differed in opinion with Jessica though. I refused to blame the supernatural alone for their circumstances. The coyotes were proud of who they were and had been brought up to make the most of their situation. The wolves, on the other hand, were taught to hide who they were, and more or less told that they were freaks and monsters. It took a toll on their self-confidence and it showed.

We continued walking until we suddenly wandered in front of our old high school. "My God, Bella. I still remember the first day you walked into the school." Jess looked into my eyes and giggled. "I really hated you back then. Every single hot guy in school wanted you."

"Hey, Jess?"

"Yeah."

"I hated myself back then, too."

"Oh good, so we were on the same page."

"Exactly."

"Aww, I wish I had gone to high school with you two."

"No, you don't, Babs. Jess and I weren't exactly friends. Okay, I'm going to be honest with you; I didn't exactly have any friends. I alienated everyone for Edward and then for Jacob. I was a really screwed up teenager."

"You seem fine now."

"It took a ton of therapy to get me to where I am now."

"She really was a screwed up teenager, Babs." I found it highly ironic how Jessica Stanley was someone I now counted among my very best friends. I detested her in high school, but now she was someone I trusted implicitly. Jess put an arm around me and gave me a squeeze. "Love you, Bells."

"Love you, too, Jess."

"Doesn't anyone love me?" Babs questioned jokingly.

"Of course we love you." I gave her a hug and so did Jess. The three of us headed back to Leah's house to face the gaggle of children and their mothers. None of us were ready for motherhood yet. We were still young, and in the case of Jess and myself, recently married within the last couple of years. We had plenty of time to start a family.

We soon walked back into Leah's house where the gathering was still in full swing. The children were all watching cartoons and the older ones were upstairs playing on the Wii. Leah was simultaneously demonstrating Pampered Chef, Tupperware, and Avon. Jacob's daughter Sarah smiled and waved shyly to me as she approached us holding her little sister Rebecca's hand. It occurred to me that this little girl had much too much responsibility on her plate for an eleven year old.

"Babs, these are Willy's sisters, Sarah and Rebecca."

"Hello," Babs greeted. "Goodness, you two have to be the prettiest little girls I've ever met."

She was right; Sarah and Rebecca were both adorable. They took after Jacob, but they had Angela's naturally wavy hair. They were painfully shy and they kept their eyes to the floor.

Rebecca held out a pink barrette to Babs. "Did you want me to put this in your hair for you?"

The little girl nodded to Babs in response.

"She thinks you're pretty," Sarah informed her.

"Well, thank you, honey. How old are you?"

Rebecca held up four fingers.

"Oh, you're a big girl." Babs looked up at Sarah. "And how old are you?"

"Eleven."

"Eleven? Are you in the sixth grade?"

"Yes."

"And you do such a nice job taking care of your sister."

"She only has me."

Babs, Jess, and I turned to each other with worried expressions. Poor Sarah was only in the sixth grade and it occurred to us that the bulk of the responsibility of raising her sister was on her shoulders. We'd all heard from our husbands the story of how Jacob had thrown Angela out of his house after discovering that she'd been physically abusive to their children. All of the wolves were completely outraged; especially Jared—who with his big heart—kept trying to convince Kim that they needed to take in Jake's kids and raise them. Kim pointed out that Jake wasn't a bad father, and that the kids loved him. Jared wouldn't drop the subject for two weeks though.

Sue approached us at that moment. "Sarah, how about if Aunty Babs watches Rebecca for a bit and I paint your nails for you?"

"Really?"

"Sure, you can pick any color that you want from Aunty Leah's Avon pile. I'll even do your toenails for you."

"What about Isaac? He's going to be hungry soon."

"Aunty Bella will keep an eye on your brother. Besides, he's playing with Mikey; he'll be fine."

"Okay." Sarah went to sit with Sue who flashed all of us a smile. I couldn't help, but notice that Sarah kept glancing back towards her little brother and sister worriedly. For one so young, she had too much responsibility; not only that, but she was too timid and frightened—a result of Angela's abuse.

Jess pulled me aside that moment and asked, "Bella?"

"Yes?"

"I feel guilty."

"Why?"

"Because...because I suspected that Sarah was abused last year when she was in my class and I did nothing about it. I just...I wasn't sure, and I didn't think there was any way that Reverend and Mrs. Weber's daughter could hit her child. I'm a terrible teacher."

"No, you're not. You weren't sure and even Jacob didn't suspect the child abuse. The fault lies mainly with Angela, but also with Jacob for being too unobservant."

"Here's the thing, when I see the kids now, I realize that all of the signs were there. Look at how timid and unsure of themselves the Black children are. Each and every one of them is probing the faces of adults and watching for emotions because they're afraid of their reactions."

I glanced at Jacob's kids and realized how correct Jess was. The children displayed many of the warning signs of abused children; however, at the same time, they had many caring aunties within the tribe. Now that Angela's abusive nature had become common knowledge, I was confident that the tribal members of La Push wouldn't let these kids fall through the cracks. After all, they didn't let Paul fall through the cracks while he was growing up.

"They'll be fine, Jess. They've got Jacob, Billy, and lots of uncles and aunties who love them."

"Yeah, you're right. Still, it doesn't lessen the guilt that I could have done something."

I turned to her and gave her a hug. "You didn't know at the time, Jess. Had you known, I have no doubt that you would have been the first one to report it."

"I really hope that Angela permanently loses custody of those kids when they finalize the divorce. She doesn't deserve them."

"I hope so, too, Jess."

I had no idea what was going on with the Jake situation other than that they were legally separated. I was just happy that Willy, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebecca were away from their horrific mother and that Jake finally seemed to be pulling it all together for the sake of his children's well being.

**What did you think of the job fair? What did you think of Jared's father and Paul's opinion of him? What's your opinion of Eric Yorkie's offer to assist in doing research into the Fuller case? What did you think of Jake's kids? Do you agree with Jess that Jake's kids are too wary of adults? Do you think Bella is correct that the tribe will not let the kids fall through the cracks? Let me know your thoughts on this and I'll get back to you. XOXO mama4dukes**


	23. Chapter 23

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Billy's POV**

Jacob and my grandbabies were at my house this Christmas morning opening presents. My grandbabies were on top of the world. This year, Jacob had declared that they didn't have to attend Reverend Weber's mass nor did they have to visit their other grandparents for the day and they were happy as clams at high tide. They didn't dislike their Weber grandparents, they were simply too strict, stoic, and boring. I had to admit that it made me all giddy inside knowing that I was their favorite grandparent.

Right now, the kids were opening the gifts that were under the tree for them. Jacob and I both noted that Angela didn't bother sending gifts to the kids, but at least her parents did. Their other grandparents sent the kids their usual gift of a fifty-dollar savings bond each. I thought it was a nice, long-lasting gift, albeit a bit boring for them. This had been their standard gift each Christmas and birthday so each of the kids had tidy sums saved up.

Yesterday, Paul and Bella had dropped gifts off to the kids. They were such a kind couple and they genuinely cared for all of the kids in the pack. Whenever I spoke to Paul on the phone, he made it a point to ask how all of the kids were doing. He seemed to especially have a soft spot for Willy to whom he spoke to occasionally on the phone. Why wouldn't he, though? Willy was smart enough to run to Paul and Bella when he needed help.

Willy walked up to me carrying a small wrapped box. "Grandpa, this one is for you. It has your name on it."

I glanced at the gift tag, it simply read,_ 'For Quileute Chief William E. Black.'_

"Any idea who this is from, Jake?"

"Not a clue," my son replied shaking his head. He looked about as confused as I was.

"Aren't you going to open it, Grandpa?" Willy chortled excitedly.

"Please, Grandpa," Sarah begged. "You never get surprise presents."

"Sure, why not?" I examined the gift, which was topped off with an elaborate bow. I carefully slipped the bow off then worked on removing the tape from the wrapping paper. It was so beautiful that I didn't want to tear the paper.

"Grandpa!" Willy huffed. "You're supposed to rip the wrapping paper off! It's part of the fun."

"No, he's not, Willy! He can save the paper because it's beautiful," Sarah retorted. "Grandpa, can I have the bow? It's really pretty."

"Of course you can." I handed it to her and watched as she gently placed it into one of her gift bags. After I finally unwrapped the gift, I handed the paper to her as well. She took it and placed it into her bag with a big smile on her face. I wouldn't be surprised if she used those items to make one of her crafts. It was amazing how very simple things brought her great pleasure. She reminded me so much of her grandmother who would have doted upon her if she were still alive.

"Well, open it!" Willy ordered impatiently.

"Hold your horses, I'm getting there." I popped off the lid and found a set of keys inside. I lifted it out of the box and curiously inspected it.

"Those are keys, Dad," Jacob informed me.

"Yes, Jacob. I do know what keys look like. I'm not senile yet. Why would anyone give me keys?"

"I don't know, Dad." He inspected the keys closely. "They belong to a Toyota. Was there anything else in the box?" I looked inside the box and found nothing—no note or anything. I shook my head, utterly confused.

"Well, let's head over to Charlie and Sue's, maybe they'll know something."

"Yeah, good idea."

I pocketed the odd gift and we headed to the Swans. When we arrived, the front yard was bustling with kids running around. Jacob shooed his kids off to play with the other kids. Rebecca clung to Sarah who picked her up and walked inside of the house with her.

"Jacob, Sarah has too much responsibility. She's only eleven years old, you have to ease some of the burden off of her."

"I'm trying, Dad. I've been working with the counselor. He said that Sarah likes to take care of Rebecca because it gives her an excuse not to socialize with kids her own age. He suggested that we find an extra-curricular activity for her. I've been looking, but I can't find anything that fits my schedule."

"We'll figure it out together, son," I told him while, once again, I inwardly cursed at myself for the loss of use of my legs. If only I could drive, I'd be able to take a greater role in raising my grandbabies.

Jacob wheeled me into the house where Charlie immediately greeted me with, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas to you, too, my friend. Have you had a good day so far?"

"Are you kidding me? I have my daughter and son-in-law home for once."

"Where is Bella?"

"She's out running with Babs and Linda. They've been gone for an hour, they should be back soon."

"They're exercising on Christmas? Are they insane?"

"I'd say they are," Leah piped in. "They wanted me to go with them. I told them that Santa Claus expects everyone to rest on Christmas Day since he was out all yesterday delivering gifts. Bella actually had the nerve to tell me that Santa Claus could stand to work out a little! "

"Where are Paul and Crispy?"

"I'm in here!" Crispy yelled from the kitchen.

"What are you doing in the kitchen?"

"Making pancakes."

"Ah, glad it's you and not me. Where's Paul?"

"He's still sleeping."

"Isn't it a little late for him to be sleeping?" I questioned.

"It's only seven forty-five am."

I turned to Jacob. "Exactly what time did you and the kids come over to my house this morning?"

"Six-thirty."

"Six-thirty? Why so early?"

"The kids wanted to open their presents."

"It was the same at our house, Billy. Leah and Seth were knocking on our door at seven."

"Hey, Charlie, I need to ask you a..."

I was interrupted by Bella and Babs both entering into the house.

"Oh, hey, Billy," Bella greeted, kissing me on the cheek. "Merry Christmas. You're here early."

"Merry Christmas, sweetheart. You're awake early."

"I know it's early; we told Linda we'd meet her at six-thirty so we could run with her and her brothers. She's psychotic, by the way. Were you aware of this?"

"She's just slightly psychotic, but then again, I know for a fact that you can be a bit obsessive about your workouts too."

"That's because I like to eat."

"And that's a good reason to exercise."

Bella smiled then turned to her father. "Is Paul still sleeping?"

"I haven't seen him yet."

"I'm not surprised. He was up doing paperwork until three in the morning. I want him to sleep in; he's been pushing himself too hard."

"You know, he says the same thing about you, Bella," Crispy piped in. "He thinks you work too hard and wants you to quit working."

"And become a trophy wife," Babs jested.

"He doesn't want a trophy wife. What the heck would Paul do with one of those?"

"She's right, I don't want a trophy wife. I just want her to drop her hours down to part time," Paul joined in, walking out of the bedroom clad in pajama pants and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"We're not going to have this discussion again, are we?" Bella asked.

"No, because you're never going to listen to me."

"Don't even start," Babs warned Crispy.

"I wasn't going to say a thing. I'm just minding my own business making pancakes."

"Good, keep up the good work. I'm going to take a shower." Babs scooted off to the bathroom; meanwhile Crispy went back to work in the kitchen while Paul took a seat on the sofa dragging Bella onto his lap.

"So, why is everyone here so early?" Paul asked.

"It's Christmas. The kids wanted to open presents," Charlie said.

"Cool."

"I didn't give it to them yet," Bella noted specifically to Paul.

"Well, go and get it. It's Christmas."

"Right." Bella rushed off to the bedroom and returned with an envelope that she handed to Charlie. "For Sue and you, Daddy."

"You didn't have to get us anything. Having you home with us for Christmas is the greatest gift you could give us."

"We wanted to do this," Bella insisted.

"Susie, come here. The kids got us a present."

Sue walked out and kissed Bella then Paul on their cheeks. "You didn't have to buy us a gift."

"Open it," Paul suggested. By now, everyone was in the living room except for the showering Babs.

Charlie handed Sue the envelope and she pulled out some paperwork. Her eyes widened. "Oh Lord. This is...this is...this is too generous. My goodness. We can't accept this."

"What is it, Susie?" She passed the paperwork too Charlie.

"This is...this is...holy sh...!" Charlie took a look around the room, noticing the wide-eyed children surrounding him... "Holy Shazbot!" Fortunately, he chose not to curse; otherwise Sue would have boxed his ears in.

"What is it? The suspense is killing me!" I barked.

"It's a twenty-one day South Pacific vacation to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. All expenses paid; including four days of deep sea fishing in Fiji and massages at every stop." He examined the paperwork closer. "This leaves on January 20th. Susie and I can't get time off from work that..."

Seth interrupted him. "The guys and I worked it out for you and Mom—both here and at the hospital. We've got you covered, you're good to go."

"This is an outrageous gift. It must have cost a fortune."

Paul and Bella both shrugged their shoulders. "You deserve it and you're going to need it; especially with the baby coming."

"Wait a minute! What baby?" I questioned.

"Dad and Sue just found out they're having a baby," Bella said.

"Aren't they a little old?"

"Men are never too old and while Sue might be on the older side, until she reaches full menopause; she can still release an errant egg or two."

"I see. Good Lord. I didn't think I'd be babysitting an infant again," I said a bit shocked.

"We've got our first volunteer babysitter, Susie. Everyone heard Billy, right?" Charlie questioned the room in general.

"I heard him loud and clear," Jacob stated.

"Well, of course I'm going to babysit. How often does Charlie have a baby anyway? By the way, I doubt it'll be as adorable as the last one he had over thirty years ago. She was a cutie."

"Aww, thanks, Billy." Bella approached me with a hug.

"You're welcome, sweetheart."

"Thanks, baby girl, for the very generous gift," Charlie stated, giving Bella a hug. He went on to hug Paul as well. "Thank you, son."

"You're welcome," they both replied.

"Well, Susie, you'd best be pulling out that bikini if we're hitting the beach." Charlie wagged his eyebrows at his wife.

"At least you won't have to worry about birth control," Leah joked.

I decided that now was a good time to bring up the mysterious gift that I received. "So, I opened a present this morning and it contained a set of keys. I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about it." I fished the keys out of my pocket. "According to Jacob, they belong to a Toyota." Everyone looked confused except for Paul, Bella, and Charlie who glanced between each other. "What's going on?"

"Billy, I have to show you something." Charlie stood up and wheeled me out of the house. He brought me to the garage and opened it. Inside was a red minivan. "Hit the unlock button, then hold down the auxiliary button on the keys."

I did as Charlie ordered and watched as the door unlocked then opened. I realized it was a handicapped accessible van. What a wonderful friend I had. Not many friends would go out of their way and buy a van with a ramp so he could tote his wheelchair bound friend around. "Charlie, you went out and purchased a ramp van just so you could drive me around town? Thanks, buddy."

"Whoa there, not so fast. This van isn't mine. It's yours and it's not from me, it's from Paul and Bella."

"Paul and Bella? Why? You know something, forget why. I can't accept this gift. It's much too expensive. Besides, I can't afford the insurance or the gas on it—not to mention that I can't drive it. I know that they're wealthy, but they shouldn't go around showing off and throwing their money around like rock stars."

"You listen to me, Billy Black, and listen to me good. Paul and Bella don't show off. Yes, they do have money, but you know very well that they don't flaunt their wealth. They purchased the van for you so you would have more mobility as the Chief of the Quileute Nation. Their reasoning was three-fold. First and foremost, they wanted you to be able to improve your quality of life. You were house bound and pretty much at the mercy of whomever would drive you around to run your errands. Both of them felt that you were too young to be in that situation. Second, they did it for your grandkids. They wanted them to be able to see you as the active guy you really are. Third, and this is Paul's reason in particular for doing this—he did it for the good of the reservation. He felt that part of the reason why Fuller has so much of his hands in tribal business which has nothing to do with him is because you aren't mobile enough to oversee day to day operations and the infrastructure enough. And I'm sorry to say that I agree with him. You're the tribal chief, Billy. In the end, all of this crap falls onto your shoulders and it's time you took a bigger role and actually ran the tribe instead of relying on others."

"Charlie, if you haven't noticed I can't walk!"

"So what? You can still use the rest of your body and you can use that brain of yours, too. The last time I checked, they still work. You can't keep blaming your handicap for your lack of involvement."

Never in my life, did I ever expect Charlie to be so forthright. He was only speaking the truth, of course. Still, the truth came as a shock, and to own the truth—it really stung.

"Listen, Billy—you and I have been best friends since we were kids hanging onto our fathers' coattails while they stood at the riverbank and fished together. I'm only telling you the absolute truth when I tell you that you need this mode of transportation more than anyone."

"Okay, you've proven your point. It still doesn't change the fact that this is an outrageous gift that I can't afford. I also refuse to be a charity case."

"You're not a charity case, Billy. I'm just paying back some of what I owe to this tribe," Paul informed me, walking into the garage. "You know how unfit my parents were. They should never have had custody of me because they were either drunk, stoned, or committing some sort of a crime. With them being so insipid and incapable, I should have never found success in my life, but I did. I became successful because of families like yours, the Uleys, the Clearwaters, and the Camerons who made sure that I was looked after and taught important values so I wouldn't turn into a derelict of society." He turned to me with a serious expression in his eyes. "I owe the members of this tribe a great deal, and the best way that I could think of to give back is to restore pride, honor, strength, and self-sufficiency to our people. The first step in achieving that is to re-establish your independence so that you can efficiently serve as tribal chief without having to rely on others."

"Paul, you don't understand—even if I do accept the vehicle, I can't afford to maintain it."

"You may not be able to, but I can," Jacob assured walking into the garage. "I'll pay for your gas and insurance in exchange for your babysitting services. You know where my marriage is headed Dad. I'm really going to need your help with the kids after school until I get home."

"Jake, that doesn't exactly make me self-reliant. It still makes me..."

"Stop being so fucking stubborn, Billy!" Charlie chastised. "Suck up that pride of yours and see this for what it is. This van is your road to independence and Paul, Bella, and Jake want to help you get there—that's all there is to it! Now are you going to be a stubborn old goat or do I have to kick your ass to get you to agree?"

"I can beat the shit out of you even from this wheelchair."

"That's the Billy I know."

"So you'll take the van?"

"Yes, I will. Thank you, Paul." I extended my hand to shake his, but he surprised me by engulfing me in a hug. I had a feeling that Bella was an excellent influence on him, the angry Paul Lahote that left La Push thirteen years ago would have never shown outward physical affection to anyone.

He handed me a folder. "This is your paperwork and the rest of your gift. You have to take a class at Forks Hospital to learn how to drive the van. Charlie has already volunteered to take you to the class. I also paid for your insurance for the year and included a few gas cards to get you started."

"You didn't need to do that."

"It was no problem—really. Besides, the insurance and gas were Bella's idea. You really don't want to hurt her feelings, do you?"

"Thank you, Paul. I'll be thanking Bella as well."

"She's taking a shower right now. Why don't you check out the interior of your new van?"

"Alright, I will." I wheeled myself up the ramp, conscious that Charlie, Jake, and Paul were watching me. I immediately noticed how luxurious the all leather interior was. I was a bit confused as to how I was supposed to get into the driver's seat though. "Where am I supposed to sit?"

Charlie came to the rescue. "Alright, when they delivered this van, I asked a few questions. Apparently, you wheel yourself in, push this button here, and the driver's seat will swivel out so you can transfer yourself into it. As soon as you do that, you push the button again, the seat swivels to face the wheel and you adjust the seat to where it's comfortable for you to drive."

"Gee whiz, talk about advancement in technology. What the hell is this thing?" I asked, pointing to the wheel."

"That knob controls your accelerator and the other controls your brake. That's why you have to take this class. It's a good thing you've been continuing to renew your driver's license; otherwise you'd have to take another road test too."

I put my hands on the wheel and looked out through the windshield. I had to admit that it felt fantastic to be behind the wheel of a car again. I couldn't wait to start driving. Perhaps Paul was right. Perhaps this van was the beginning of my road to independence.

**XOXO**

It took some convincing, but with Charlie's blunt speech, I finally accepted the conversion van from Bella and Paul as a gift. I was positive that the van would pave the way for improvement, both in my life, my grandbabies lives, and for the good of the tribe. We were sitting in the living room having breakfast when Sarah suddenly came out of the bathroom sobbing her eyes out.

"What's wrong, sweet pea?" Jacob asked.

"I don't know. There was blood."

"Blood? Did you cut yourself?"

"No...it was from...it was from...where I peed."

"From where you peed? How did you cut yourself there?"

Yeah, how did she cut herself there? I was curious myself.

"Hey, Sarah, don't cry. A cut is nothing. I saw 'Hello Kitty' bandages in Aunty Babs' medical bag," Crispy told her.

"Are you men done?" Bella questioned with a raised eyebrow. She looked nonplussed.

"What?" we questioned. What the heck was Bella going on about? And why did the other women look pissed off at us as well.

She shook her head then smiled at Sarah. "Honey, come with me to the bathroom and you can tell me more about what happened."

Sarah nodded her head and took Bella's hand. Babs ran in after them.

"What the heck is she all surly about?" Paul asked, referring to his wife.

"Yeah," we all agreed.

"You idiots!" Sue chastised in a whisper. "Sarah has most likely started her period."

"Her period?" all of us men questioned, appalled.

"Isn't she a little young?" Jake asked.

"What's a period?" Willy questioned.

"It's a...a..." I stuttered. Oh my God. How the hell were we supposed to broach this subject?

"Honestly, Jacob, this is something that you should have discussed with your children years ago," Sue informed him.

"Well, it's not like anyone discussed it with me."

This was very true. I was too terrified to discuss sex with him. I never quite knew how to broach the subject.

"Well, what's a period?"

"_Don't tell him anything. You men will bungle up the explanation. Wait for Bella and me," _Babs yelled from the hallway.

"Hey, we can handle an explanation about periods," an annoyed Crispy replied. "Alright, Willy, when a girl reaches a certain age, her body starts to develop. Her breasts grow and...um..." Crispy's ears were a bright shade of crimson.

"Let me try," Jake stated. "Son, when a girl reaches a certain age, her body starts going through changes. One of the changes involves...things getting bigger and hair growing in all different sorts of places that you can't even imagine..."

"Jesus, Jake! You're going to scare the boy. You're making it sound like she's going to turn into a caveman!" Leah chastised.

Oh, this is bad. As tribal chief, I should attempt to tell him. "Um, William...once a month, women go through mood swings, they become cranky, downright impossible to reason with, and this all happens because..." I looked up to find Sue and Leah towering over me with evil glares on their faces.

"Are you trying to terrorize the poor boy?" Sue questioned.

"No, I'm just telling him what I know."

"Then what the heck are you going on about?"

"PMS! I just want the boy to know what to expect!" I argued.

"Yeah, honesty is good. You know what Susie's like when she's on her period and I remember what Sarah was like, too, but no one—no one can compare to Renee PMS-ing." Thank God for friends, I knew Charlie would understand where I was coming from.

"They can't possibly be as bad as when Kyla's on the rag," Seth piped in.

"What did you just call it, Seth?" Kyla questioned.

"Um...a period?"

"That's not what I heard." She was looking fierce and let's just say that I wouldn't want to argue with her. I've seen Kyla angry before and it wasn't a pleasant sight. Poor Seth was cowering under his wife's glare. I was actually concerned about his physical well-being.

We were all saved when Bella and Babs walked out of the bathroom with Sarah who had a confident smile on her face. My little granddaughter marched up to Jacob and said, "Daddy, I started my period today. You need to take me to the store tomorrow and buy me bras, napkins, and a new outfit."

"Sure, sure, honey. Are you okay? Are you sure you want me to go with you or do you want one of your aunties to take you?"

"No, Daddy, I want you to take me. I like spending time with you."

I caught sight of Bella nodding to Jacob. "I'd love to go with you. How about if we make it a day? Maybe Grandpa can watch your brothers and sisters while we go to the mall? Just the two of us. Would you like that?"

Sarah bounded into Jake's arms and I swear there wasn't a dry eye in the room.

"That's my girl," Jake soothed.

"Will someone please explain to me what a period is?" William questioned.

"Come on, Willy, Aunty Babs and I will tell you all about it. We're going to go for a walk," Bella told him.

As they were leaving the house, William asked them, "What does 'on the rag' mean?"

"Did I or did I not ask you men not to attempt to explain anything?" Babs asked.

We all pointed to Seth. "It was him!"

She shook her head and grunted as she left. A while later, they returned with Willy who looked confused.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" I asked Willy.

"Grandpa, which came first? The chicken or the egg?"

"Well, now that's a question that we as men will spend our entire lives trying to answer. Don't sweat it. Just be happy that we have chickens, eggs, and women to make our lives less complicated."

**Jake's POV**

The next morning, I drove Sarah to the mall and took her shopping. I realized that this was the first time that I'd ever spent time alone with her. Generally, my time was spent working so I could make ends meet. It wasn't like we were poor; it's just that Angela's spending habits had been out of control. That has come to a stop though; the judge made sure of it.

Last week, I went to court to file a legal separation from Angela. We went to an official hearing and, though Angela petitioned for the kids, the social worker recommended that they be placed with me, and the Forks Police Department backed him up with evidence of her being physically and verbally abusive to the children. After hearing that, the judge issued a continuance on the restraining order put through by the Forks Police Department.

Since our separation, I've taken back control of our finances. For one, her name was removed from the credit cards I shared with Angela. I had brought meticulous records of each and every bill I paid and the court agreed that those purchases were her responsibility. I also am no longer responsible for her car payment or insurance. The judge also ordered Angela to pay child support to the tune of 538 dollars monthly. She requested spousal support, but he didn't grant it stating that she did not need additional support and that her income as a secretary was sufficient since she was living with her parents again and had no rent to speak of.

"Daddy, can we go to that store?" my little girl pointed to a very flashy girls clothing store. There were a ton of pre-teens in there with their mothers.

I mustered up my confidence, smiled and entered the store. I tried to keep in mind Bella's advice yesterday, _"Jacob, you used to be a very good best friend to me. Just channel some of the old Jake, mix it up with fatherhood, and you'll be fine." _She also advised me to have a salesperson fit her for a bra. _"You're just going to have to suck it up and ask, Jake. It's part of the new you. Sarah is your daughter. You can't show your embarrassment or pass this responsibility off to someone else because she is your responsibility. You are her mother and her father now. You can text me if you need help."_

"Okay, Sarah, this is new for me too. Why don't we take a look around the store? Look, they have bras there. Should we go and see what they have."

Sarah nodded her head shyly at me. "Daddy, I told Mom that the school nurse told me that I needed a bra at the beginning of the school year and she told me that she didn't have time to take me shopping."

_I'm not going to snap. I swear I'm not going to lose it. That bitch had time enough to run up the credit cards to the tune of 17,000 dollars, but she couldn't find the fucking time to take her daughter bra shopping?_ I counted to ten before I replied, "Well, Daddy's here now. Let's see what we can find. Aunty Bella said that we needed to find a saleslady to measure you." I saw a young woman in her early twenties. "She looks nice, doesn't she? Let's ask her for some help."

I approached the woman who was surprised by my question, but happy to take Sarah in hand. After taking her measurements and finding the correct size, she suggested a few bra sets. I arched a brow when she picked up some sort of underwire bra. _Does she really need underwire at her age? _I mean there was barely anything up there.

I quickly sent a text message to Bella questioning if she needed an underwire bra.

**To: J Black**

**From: I Lahote**

**No underwire. Stick to cotton only. Limit her to three bras because she's still growing.**

Still growing? I don't like the idea of my little girl growing up at all. I sighed. "Sarah, I think those bras are for when you get a little older. Why don't we see if we can find something in cotton?"

"Sure, sure."

We searched through the rack together and we were able to come up with three that we both thought were suitable. I also restocked her underwear and Rebecca's as well. I figured I needed to stay ahead of the game in that department. I was so proud that I sent a text message to Bella.

**To: J Black**

**From: I Lahote**

**Great job, Daddy! Don't forget to restock the boys, too. You might as well buy them all socks as well. Walmart or Target should be fine for those things.**

Another text message came through immediately following that one from Bella.

**To: J Black**

**From: I Lahote**

**Don't forget to restock your own underwear and socks.**

Oh, man, I don't even know what size I am. "Hey, Sarah, maybe you can help Daddy pick out an outfit too?"

"Really?" she squealed excitedly.

"Really, and later, we can go and eat at a nice restaurant. Not a fast food one."

"Like a real grown up, sit-down one?"

"Yes, princess."

We spent the rest of the day shopping and simply spending time together. At the end of the day, I felt as if I'd bonded with her. I was happier than I'd been in a very long time. It occurred to me that perhaps I could fulfill the role of both father and mother to my kids because they sure as heck didn't need Angela. I smiled at my daughter who was beaming with happiness.

"I love you, Daddy."

And those simple words made everything worthwhile. "And I love you, Sarah—always have and always will."

**You've now heard from the Blacks. What did you think? Do you agree with Charlie that Billy needs to suck up his pride and accept the van for the welfare of the tribe and himself? Aren't you glad that Bella and Babs were there when Sarah started her period? What did you think of the way Jacob handled Sarah? Do you think Bella sending Jake off on a bra shopping trip was a good idea? Do you all want to kick Angela for neglecting to purchase a bra for her daughter and for not even sending Christmas gifts to them? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. Thank you for taking the time to read and review Intensity. XOXO mama4dukes**


	24. Chapter 24

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**Mature readers 18+ only please.**

**Paul's POV**

We've been back home for six weeks now. Charlie and Sue had gone on their vacation, and had a fabulous time. They still raved about their vacation with each phone call. Billy was finally behind the wheel of his new minivan, and according to Jacob, he was tearing through the entire Olympic Peninsula with his grandkids in tow, now that he was mobile once again. Speaking of Jacob, he said that Angela has been keeping an extremely low profile now that word of her child abuse has spread through Forks. Apparently, Collin's imprint Linda, angered by what she'd heard, confronted Angela in front of Reverend Weber's church after Sunday services in front of all of the parishioners. She left after slapping Angela across the face.

The interviews at the various reservations had gone well. I had enough workers to carry the company through all of the projects and now I was busy playing catch up at work. Bella, too, was ridiculously busy. I hadn't had dinner with her once this week; we'd see each other in the morning before work and one or both of us would return home late at night, way after dinner. Something had to give because I missed her like crazy.

Currently, I was cooped up in the boardroom with Crispy, Tom, and Embry having a working lunch. We were busy creating teams out of our new hires.

"Yes, Tom?"

"I think we need to put Joe Cameron on my team and move Sammy and Jared off. If I'm not overstepping my boundaries, my opinion is that you can promote those two to foremen. I would assign Brady as the right-hand man to Jared and have Manny with Sammy. In the meantime, I'll take Brian, Chris, and Jason who are coming in from the reservation with only carpentry experience. It would be best if I trained them."

"Sorry, no can do."

"Why not, Paul? I'm the best man for the job."

"I know; that's why you've been promoted to Construction Team Coordinator. I will take your advice on promoting Jared and Sam. I think it best that we don't place Joe Cameron with Jared because they might kill each other. They're family and they see each other all the time at home. It would be like putting your son-in-law Brady on your team. I'm going to let Sam handle training him and a few other new hires. He has experience with training new recruits. Brady will be on Jared's team along with Manny. Those two work well together."

Crispy pulled up Sam's resume. "I don't see anything on Sam's resume about training new employees nor on Jared's neither."

"He used to be the alpha when the reservation was being threatened by vampires and Jared was his beta," Tom whispered. "Believe me when I say that those two know how to lead and train."

"They'll do." Crispy nodded his head.

"How are you on the electrical front, Em?"

"I'm all set. We had three quarters of our team set before leaving, and the rest I was able to hire during our trip—mostly from Alaska. I have no idea why, but Alaska has an overabundance of electricians looking for work."

"Good, good. What about housing? Does Rita have the leads all set, Crispy?"

"Yes, that was completed this afternoon. We've got more than enough offers. Most of these guys are willing to go five to a two bedroom apartment in order to keep the rent costs down so as long as the company is willing to provide security deposits, all of the landlords on the list are willing to work with us."

"How are they planning on doing five to a two bedroom?"

"I think two in each bedroom plus one in the living room on a sleeper sofa."

"That's not a code violation?"

"Nope."

"Alright, I'll leave that in your hands then. Health insurance?"

"The ones from the reservations have tribal healthcare so we'll be saving a ton of money there." Crispy sighed. "Paul, we're good. It's Friday afternoon, trust me when I say that we're ahead of the game. I think we can all take a break and relax this weekend."

"I'd like that, my grandson is playing basketball this weekend and I'd like to see the game," Tom agreed.

"You're right, we've been going non-stop for the last six weeks. Alright, meeting is adjourned. See you all on Monday."

"Are you serious? It's only 12:30."

"I am. I've hardly seen Bella since we've returned. I miss her, and you guys should all spend some time with your family. I'm sorry it's been so busy here." I turned to Tom. "I just need you to go to HR and fill out a few forms that have to do with your promotion. You get additional benefits and a raise with your position."

"Paul, are you sure? You don't have to..."

"I think you've proven yourself to be an effective leader and coordinator, Tom. This job will be perfect for you."

"Thanks, Paul."

"Don't mention it."

I watched as everyone left the boardroom. I headed to my office to call in the new promotions to human resources so that they could handle the paperwork; then I decided to go and check out the progress on some of the sites.

On the way to the worksite, my cell phone buzzed with a phone call. "This is Paul Lahote."

"Mr. Lahote, my name is Lorraine Smyth, I'm the nurse at Arcadia High School. You are the primary emergency contact listed for Samuel Uley, Jr. after his parents."

"Yes?" I questioned, completely worried now because a call from the school nurse is never good. "Is Sammy okay?"

"We were unable to reach his parents and were wondering if you were available to pick him up. There was an incident at school."

"Of course, I'll be right there."

I turned the truck around and floored it to the high school. I rushed inside, identified myself to the school secretary, and was led to the nurse's office where Sammy was nursing a black eye.

I knelt down to his level and took a look at him. "What happened?" He didn't say anything and turned his head away from me. "Sammy? What happened?"

"Mr. Lahote? If you can come to my office, I can apprise you of the situation," the principal said, peeking into the room.

"I'll be right back, buddy," I assured Sammy before following the principal to his office and sitting down in the chair across from him. "Kids can be cruel, Mr. Lahote—especially teenagers."

"Yes, I'm aware of that."

"Sammy hasn't had as easy a time as Ryan Cameron in adjusting to high school."

"I was not aware of that."

"I know that you've attended most of the wrestling matches faithfully."

"I have." _Will this guy ever get to the point?_

"As you're aware, Ryan is the star of the wrestling team while Sammy is not performing as well."

"You mean he's not performing well at all."

"Well, yes, I was trying to be diplomatic about the situation."

"Please, just be frank with me," I told him, hoping he'd just get to the point.

"Alright, Sammy has been getting teased and bullied for his lack of athletic prowess. He lost his cool during lunch and slugged one of the football players; unfortunately, he hit Sammy back resulting in the black eye and a possible fractured hand."

"The poor kid. Where was Ryan?"

"Fortunately, he had a different lunch period as Sammy because we have no doubt that Ryan would have defended him."

"Mr. Lahote, I honestly believe that Sammy needs to withdraw from the wrestling program and find a different pursuit. If you could convey that information to his parents, I'd appreciate it. I won't be punishing Sammy because he was antagonized; the other student will, in fact, be serving out detention."

"Thank you, Mr. Trainor."

"Not a problem. I believe he needs to be seen by his doctor."

"Bella's his health care provider. I'll drive him straight to her office."

"Then he'll be in excellent hands."

I shook Mr. Trainor's hand, returned to the nurse's office, and grabbed Sammy who looked glum. As soon as he got into my truck, he started bawling.

"Hey, buddy, Mr. Trainor told me what happened."

"I don't want to go back to school, Uncle Paul! It's embarrassing, Mom is always hovering over me and the kids all think I'm a mama's boy."

"Being loved by your mom is not necessarily a bad thing."

"Yeah, but she embarrasses me. She treats me like I'm four years old and hugs me all the time. She shouts, 'I love you, Sammy Bear!' when she drops me off in the morning. I wish she were more like Aunty Kim. She doesn't embarrass Ryan." He took a deep breath before continuing, "And then there's Ryan. He's popular, he's athletic, and he can defend himself. I can't do any of that stuff."

"Sammy, forget about Ryan. Let's focus on you. What do you like to do?"

"I can draw and I can sing—not exactly boy stuff, huh? But I'm not gay."

"I never said you were, and even if you were—I wouldn't hold it against you."

"Uncle Paul, why am I so pathetic?"

"I'd hardly say you're pathetic. I'd say the kid who teased you because you're not a jock is pathetic. He's not open-minded enough."

"I hate wrestling, Uncle Paul. I only did it to prove myself to my dad because...because...well, Dad is a tough guy. Dad played football in high school and got straight A's. Dad..."

"We're not here to talk about your dad. That's your dad, not you. You are a different, Samuel Joshua Uley."

"Yeah, I'm the wimp version."

"Cut it out. You're far from being a wimp. It took courage to give wrestling a try and you were brave to defend yourself against the bully." I parked the vehicle at Bella's office. "Come on, chin up. Let's go and show Aunty Bella your hand."

We walked into the office. Sammy still had tears streaming down his face. As soon as the receptionist noticed me, she called Bella who took us to an open room.

"We're on skeleton crew today because all of our medical assistants are at a training session. The good news is that we're done with appointments for the day. Now, what do we have here?" She took a look at Sammy's swollen eye. "Maybe it's good that your mom isn't here. She'd probably make a big deal out of a little scratch, huh?" Bella asked him.

How the heck she knew how to deal with the kid, I had no idea.

"Yeah, I also dinged my hand."

"Let me see." She examined his hand, which was swollen and hanging limp. "I'd say you did a bit more than just dinged it up. We're going to have to take a little trip to the hospital for x-rays. I think you have a boxer's break. You wait here while I make the arrangements."

"Okay."

A boxer's break? I made a mental note to teach the kid how to punch. He probably fights like Crispy. He's another one who needs lessons in self-defense and he's my goddamned beta. The guy didn't even know how to form a proper fist. I swear that the Coyote pack had it so easy compared to the wolf pack. The only two who know how to fight are Jeff because he was a jock and wrestled, and Barry because he had to learn how to fight at the police academy.

Bella motioned me out to the hallway. "What happened?"

"He was bullied, got fed up, punched a kid, and got punched back."

"How come you're bringing him in, Paul?"

"I'm the emergency contact. I suspect that they couldn't get through to Sam because he's at a worksite and couldn't hear his phone. Some of the noise drowns out the sound of the phone ringing even with wolf hearing."

"And Emily's at the training session which is a good thing because she would have blown this out of proportion."

"Right."

"Okay, let's get him to the hospital for x-rays."

"Don't you have to work?"

"Nope, I told you I'm done for the day. We knew about this training session so we're on an on-call basis only. This would be a call for me."

"Bella, Mrs. Cameron is on line one," the receptionist interrupted.

"Okay, Beth." She turned to me. "Hang on."

"Kim? What happened? Alright, I'll meet you at the emergency department at Good Samaritan, okay?" She paused to listen. "Okay. See you there. I'll probably get there before you do."

"It appears Ryan heard about what happened to his best friend and retaliated. He's being transported there by ambulance as a precaution."

"Yeah, I heard Kim loud and clear. I'm glad we don't have kids yet."

"Me too," Bella admitted. "Let me go and tell Dr. Blanchard I'm heading out."

By the time we arrived at the hospital twenty minutes later, Sam and Jared were waiting for us.

"Paul, thanks for grabbing him. What happened?"

Bella took Sammy ahead with her. I hung back and explained the situation to Sam who sighed. "God, damn it! I told Emily about her overprotectiveness. She smothers him."

"_Fuck you!"_

"_Fuck you, too!" _we heard Ryan and another boy arguing in the emergency department followed by scuffling.

"_Ryan, no!"_ we heard Kim yelling. _"You sit down this instant!"_ Jared, Sam, and I rushed in there and pulled Ryan back.

"Sit down! You heard your mother, boy!" Jared ordered. "Now!"

The other boy's father was yelling at his son to sit down as well.

"I want these two separated!" Dr. Kele, Barry's mother, commanded.

It was at that moment that Sammy walked by with Bella.

"Ooh, baby Sammy Bear is crying. Boo-hoo," the bully taunted.

Then the unthinkable happened. The boy's father slapped him across the face using full force, knocking him off of the gurney. The boy instantly cowered with tears streaming down his face.

"How dare you? How dare you hit this boy?" Dr. Kele shouted. "Security!"

"You're a real asshole!" Ryan added, standing up and staring into the father's face—never flinching. Jared clamped a hand over his son's mouth to shut him up.

The father raised his hand to hit Ryan. Jared moved in front of his own son and the other boy. "Don't even think about laying a finger on my boy, yours, or any other kid again! Is that understood?" I'd never seen Jared looking so fierce. I understood why Sam picked him to be beta when he was alpha—he understood right from wrong.

Security showed up a few minutes later and escorted the father out. I heard Dr. Kele asking her staff to call the police and social services.

Sam, Jared, and I were standing there stunned. I recalled how many times I'd been hit by my dad as a boy and sympathized with the bully. There was no excuse for his bullying, but I knew the reason behind his rage and aggression: he was an abused child.

"I'd better find Sammy," Sam stated.

"Bella took him to get x-rayed. Go through the double doors, down the corridor and take a left. You'll see the signs." Sam nodded and took off. "Let's take a look at that eye," Dr. Kele told the other boy. "Your name is Patrick?"

"Yes," he replied. "Is my Dad okay? He doesn't mean to hit me. It's just that...it's just that sometimes he drinks too much and I'm...I'm a pain in the ass."

"No, Patrick. You might be a bit of a pain in the ass, but no more than the usual boy. It doesn't give your father the right to hit you. You say he drinks. Does he do it often?"

"A lot."

"I see. Well, maybe we can get him some help."

"That would be good, but we don't have money. He lost his job and my mom...my mom walked out on us."

"We'll work it all out. I promise. You're safe now."

I took a good look at Patrick and realized how frightened he looked. The kid had no one, nothing—only his alcoholic father and no mother to speak of because she had selfishly walked out. Really, he only had himself to rely on—just like I once only had myself to rely on too.

And then, an hour or so later, I saw a glimmer of hope. His worried grandparents rushed into the emergency room to pick him up. Hopefully he would get the care he needs. Grandparents were a heck of a lot more than I had and I turned out okay...and so should he.

**XOXO**

"Dad, Mom...I feel bad for hitting Patrick," Ryan said.

"Well, you should. You had no business hitting him."

"He was mean to Sammy."

"And Sammy tried to defend himself and got hurt in the process. It wasn't your fight, Ryan. You weren't there. You just randomly attacked the boy. You're lucky the principal is only letting you off with a detention," Kim informed him.

"I'm sorry."

Jared shook his head and looked up towards the heavens. "You know something, I understand that you want to defend Sammy because he's your best friend, but you need to let him fight his own battles."

"He gets picked on a lot."

"That's something we can all deal with together," I told him. "We'll find something for him to do that he's good at."

"He's good at drawing titties."

"Something of the non-pornographic variety."

"No, I'm serious. He can draw all kinds of titties in a cartoon kind of way."

Jared, Kim, and I all looked at each other not knowing quite how to respond to that.

"Does he draw breasts often?" Kim squeaked out, clearly uncomfortable with the topic, but trying hard to be an approachable mother.

"Oh, yeah. He has a whole notebook and everything. He writes stories to go along with them. He can also draw puss..." Jared clamped his hand over his son's mouth.

"Paul, do you think Sam and Emily are aware of their son's fascination with drawing cartoon porn and writing stories to accompany them?" a bewildered Kim whispered in my ear after she got over her shock.

"Think, Kim—this is Em we're talking about."

"Ooh...right..." She pursed her lips and let out a whistle.

Bella walked into Ryan's room about an hour later. "Sammy's fine. He's got a boxer's break. I put a splint on it and Sam took him home. How about you, Ryan? Have you been looked at yet?"

"No, they took Patrick first."

"Right, Dr. Kele probably had an emergency." Bella started examining him. "So you bumped your head?"

"I sort of got it smashed up against a concrete wall."

"Where? Here?" Bella felt the back of his head.

"Right around there and I got kicked in the stomach until I wrestled him to the ground."

"Ryan, what am I going to do with you?" She shined a penlight, checked out his injury, and examined his pupils.

"Come to the Valentine's Day Dance at school with me?" he asked hopefully.

We all chuckled at the boy.

Bella gave him a full exam and turned to Jared and Kim. "I think he's fine. It's going to be up to Jill though; this is her department. I'm just here for moral support."

Dr. Kele arrived a minute later and gave the same diagnosis as Bella. "No wrestling practice or gym today or tomorrow."

"That's okay, I have detention anyway," Ryan chirped. "Besides, we don't have a meet until Tuesday, I think."

"You remind me of Barry when he was a teenager. Oh, the hell that boy put me through. Take him home, he'll be fine. If he develops swelling, dizziness, or a severe headache—you know where to find Bella, Randy, or me." Jill turned to us. "What on earth are you two doing here? You two need to go home and unwind. You're overworking yourselves, both of you."

"Right, we're gonna take off. Stay out of trouble, Ryan."

"I'll try, but I really can't promise anything."

"That has to be the most honest answer a kid has ever given," Bella commented.

I drove her back to the office so she could pick up her car and we drove home separately. After arriving at home, Bella and I simply went upstairs and collapsed in our bed for a nap. We were, quite simply, exhausted.

Of course, whoever the god of rest and relaxation was didn't seem to want to grant us with either because Quil showed up at seven pm with his younger son Chris who had a massive splinter stuck in his hand.

"How did this happen?"

"We were braiding leather key chains in Cub Scouts."

"I'm sorry, Quil, I don't understand. If you were braiding leather, how did Chris get a massive splinter in his hand?"

"Right, he was running outside with the other boys while we dads were braiding leather."

"I see, and you couldn't get the splinter out yourself?"

"Watch this." Quil turned to his boy. "Hey, Chris, can Daddy see your boo-boo?"

Chris's eyes widened to the size of saucers, then suddenly he started bawling at the top of his lungs. He flopped onto his stomach, hid his hand underneath him, and started begging, "I want Mama!"

"Mama can't come to you right now, honey; she's at the Brownies with Crystal."

"Mama! Mama! Mama!"

_God, that's a loud kid._

"Chris, let Daddy see your splinter. I'm just going to gently pull it out for you."

"Mama!"

_How the hell was my wife sleeping through this noise?_

The doorbell rang again. This time it was Randy stopping by with some of Mina's pie.

"Just the man we need to see, Chris has a splinter," Quil told him.

"Well, did you pull it out?"

"He won't let me near his hand."

"Chris, can Uncle Randy see your hand."

"I want Mama! I want Mama!"

Randy stood up and approached Chris who started running for his life.

"Jesus, Quil, why the hell is he so afraid of getting a splinter removed?"

"I don't know. Rachel just knows how to keep him calm."

"Chris! Come here now!"

"No!"

He was running in fear and cowering while the three of us chased after him like a bunch of fools. He was throwing the mother of all temper tantrums. _Oh, God! He's so loud. Ugh. _And then he started screeching at the top of his lungs about how his booboo hurt and how he wanted his mommy. That finally woke my wife up. She sat on the staircase and observed the situation before calmly stating, "Chris, sweetie, would you like some chocolate ice cream?"

"Uh-huh." He nodded his head and wiped his snot off on his arm. Gross; yet another reason why I don't want kids; they're so messy. We're going to have to disinfect the entire damned house again!

"Let's go to the kitchen and get some. Come on, just you and me."

She picked him up and placed him on the bar stool at the kitchen island, and then she served him ice cream. While he was happily concentrating on licking the cone, she took a pair of tweezers out and pulled the splinter out. The kid didn't even flinch.

"You see, this is why I need Bella working for me," Randy stated, observing the situation. "She's just got the magic touch."

"Hey, Bella?" Quil called.

"Yes?"

"Thank you and...um...you wouldn't have anything to eat, would you?"

I was about to protest when Randy added that he was hungry.

"Hold on, isn't Mina home? You just brought some pie over," I reminded him.

"She's catering some kind of party. She left me the pie and told me to bring it over here and have Bella feed me."

Bella chuckled when she heard that. "I know, she told me that she was sending you here for dinner. I've got beef stew ready to go in the Crock Pot."

When the hell did she find time to do that? God, she's so damned organized.

"Thank God, I thought I was going to have PB and J for dinner."

"Well, come on and sit down. It's time for dinner."

"Chris, we get a treat tonight. We get Aunty Bella's beef stew for dinner."

"Hurray! No soggy chicken salad!"

"Yep, buddy, no soggy chicken salad."

We ate dinner and talked before settling down to watch some TV. Brady stopped in with some beer at around nine stating that Missy was driving him insane with her to-do list.

"I get home from work and she's standing there with the baby on her hip and a damned screwdriver in her hand. She actually made me install the new bathroom cabinet."

"What happened to the old one?"

"Oh, the kids played with it and ripped the door off the hinges one too many times."

"I've had that happen more than once," Quil noted. Little Chris was curled up on the chair sleeping. "He looks like an angel when he's sleeping. Damn it, it always melts my heart. I should get going and put him to bed. Thanks for getting the splinter out and for dinner, Bella. I owe you one."

"I should get going too. Mina should be home by now." He turned to Bella. "Delicious beef stew. I don't mind if I stop in every now and then."

"Randy, you stop in at least twice a week."

"I can't help it if I live down the road from you. Just so you know, I was in this neighborhood before you guys."

"Thanks for letting me unwind here," Brady said, kissing Bella on the cheek.

We saw the guys out and watched them drive away. I loved them, they were like my brothers, and I usually didn't mind them stopping by without notice. In fact, I enjoyed that about them. Today, though—today, I'd had a long day and I was coming off of a long week. On top of that, the whole fiasco with Sammy unnerved me. Sure, he's not my son, but he's Sam's son, and Sam has stuck with me through thick and thin. His family was one of those who made sure I was okay. What I needed was to get away. A break. A respite. A little interlude.

"Bella?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have any patients who are about to go into labor this weekend?"

"Not at all. Why?"

"Pack your bag. We're going to a hotel before anyone else stops by. I want to sleep."

"Isn't that being a bit frivolous with money?"

"Bella, we're fucking millionaires! No, billionaires! Billionaires should be allowed to sleep every once in a blue moon. We've earned it, don't you think?"

"I know. I just wanted to see your reaction. I know the perfect place to go to."

"Hey, I trust you. You know the state so well that you're like a walking map of Arizona."

"I'll pack while you make some coffee for the road."

"Yes, honey."

Within twenty minutes we were out of the house and on our way to rest and relaxation. Frankly, I didn't care where we were headed; I just wanted to have one weekend of peace away from my damned pack.

**Wow! A day in the life of Paul and Bella Lahote—busy, busy, busy! Do you think Paul handles his business well? What about the way he dealt with Sammy? How about his musings at the hospital regarding the bully? And Ryan—what are we going to about Ryan? Do you think Kim and Jared are good parents? Are Paul and Bella too busy? Did Paul do the right thing by escaping for the weekend? Let me know your thoughts and I'll get back to you. Thank you for taking the time to read Intensity. XOXO mama4dukes**


	25. Chapter 25

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**This story is AU/OOC**

**Bella's POV**

Our weekend away did wonders for us. It fully recharged us for the week, which turned out to be more hectic than we bargained for. The flu had been going around and Emily and I seemed to be the only ones left standing in our office. In fact, for the last two days, it had been just the two of us. We were lucky, of course, because we had those crazy anti-viral properties that came with imprinting, which worked as a flu preventative. Thank goodness today was Friday because I really needed to go home and get some rest.

"Glad today is over with," Emily commented.

"You're not kidding. It was chaos in here. I bet you're looking forward to getting home to the kids. How's Sammy doing, by the way?"

"He's doing better. Sam is dropping him off at school in the mornings now."

Phew! What a relief! Emily had a tendency to smother her kids.

"What about wrestling? Is he leaving the program?"

"No, there's only two weeks left in the season, and with his hand out of commission, he can't participate in practices. Anyway, his coach is going to keep him on the roster so he can earn a JV letter because, even if he didn't win any matches, he did do his very best at practices and at matches. The coach thinks that he deserves to letter. All he has to do is show up at the remaining matches to support his teammates."

"I think that's wonderful. How does Sammy feel about it?"

"He likes the idea that he'll be able to letter in wrestling."

"Good. Let's close up shop and get out of here."

It was Friday at 6:20 pm and I had just sent my last patient home. My cell phone started ringing incessantly. From the ringtone, I knew it was from the hospital. Emily, who was familiar with the ringtone, turned to me with a concerned expression.

"This is Isabella Swan."

"Bella, this is Rich Greenbriar. You need to come to Good Samaritan ASAP."

"Why? What happened?"

"Just get over here."

"I just have to lock up. I'll be there as soon as I can." I shook my head. Dr. Greenbriar was one of the few doctors who spoke to me so casually. Of course, it may be because he and his wife had watched me grow up because his daughter Katherine had been my best friend from elementary school through high school when I lived in Phoenix. I hadn't seen Katherine in years because she now lived somewhere in the Midwest.

"Em, we need to shut down. I need to get to Good Samaritan—there's some sort of emergency."

"Okay, just call if you need me for anything. Did you need Paul to come to our house for dinner?"

"He's in Oklahoma, remember?"

"Oh, that's right."

"Give the kids and Sam a hug for me."

"I will."

After locking up the office, we went our separate ways. I drove to the hospital, parked, and walked inside. The receptionist sent me straight to Rich's office.

"What's the emergency?"

"Have a seat, Bella." I sat down, concerned, because I'd never seen Rich so serious. Okay, there was the time when Katherine and I didn't come home until two am after the homecoming dance, but he was more angry than serious then.

He took a deep breath. "Tom Blanchard passed away about an hour ago."

"Tom Blanchard as in Dr. Blanchard, my boss?"

"Yes, Bella."

"Oh...how..." I had tears streaming down my face. He had been my pediatrician long before I started working for him. I took a few deep breaths and composed myself. "How did it happen?"

"I had to admit him because he was having respiratory problems from the flu around noon time. Before I knew it, he was on a ventilator, and he passed away shortly after that."

"So, complications from the flu?"

"Bella, believe it or not, Tom was eighty-seven. He was my doctor when I was growing up and Katherine's too. He loved doctoring so he never retired."

"Oh, God. He was such a good man." My tears wouldn't stop. Rich came around the desk and held me just like a father would. The man had watched me grow up so I had no problem with his physical proximity.

It took a few minutes for me to finally calm down. "What should I do now?"

"Well, obviously his funeral arrangements are being handled by his wife, but you and I need to take care of his practice. There's the staff who need to be informed about his death and other matters relating to his practice."

"Okay, but why me? Why not Krista?"

"Tom obviously trusted you more because he specifically requested that you and I handle any business arrangements in case of his death." He opened up a manila envelope on his desk and took out some papers. "I've had this for two years now. It's a detailed document on how he wants his business taken care of. He's already made arrangements for the practice to be sold to Dr. Marcy Cohen within two weeks."

"Dr. Marcy Cohen?" I snarled her name out. I couldn't stand the witch.

Rich chuckled. "Don't hold back, Bella. Anyway, the staff has a choice to stay or go after seeing the practice through for the next two weeks. Everyone will be receiving their usual pay plus a bonus of six months salary from him as his final compensation to his staff; that's all been pre-arranged with his lawyer. Your cut is substantially larger than everyone else's because, obviously, you're helping with the final arrangements. He also predicted that you're going to be flying the coop."

"How did he know I would be leaving the practice?"

"Come on, Bella? This is me you're talking to. I watched you grow up."

"Rich, would you work for Marcy Cohen?"

"I fired her Bella. She's not a people person."

"Why did Tom sell the practice to Dr. Cohen?"

"She overpaid him; Tom wasn't a stupid man; he took the best offer he could get."

"Ah, I see, but she's going to lose all of his patients, isn't she?"

"Most likely, but that's not our problem or his. Do you have a list of all of your personal patients?"

"I do."

"Good, because by law, they need to be given the option of keeping you as their primary care provider, finding a new one, or staying with Dr. Cohen."

"Understood."

He patted me on the shoulder. "We'll get through this Bella."

"I know we will." I sighed before standing up. "Where is he?"

"His body has already been transported to the funeral home."

"I'll swing by there tomorrow—give the family a chance to mourn in private first."

"And I'll see you at the office on Monday. I'll be taking his appointments for the next two weeks. It's part of what we agreed on. We'll talk to the staff together then."

I hugged him one more time. "How's Katherine?"

"Pregnant. You know, I always thought she'd stay in Arizona. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine her living in Kansas of all places."

"I just can't picture her in Kansas."

"I know, but she's thriving. She always sends her love to you, Bella."

"Well, tell her that I love her, too."

"I will."

**XOXO**

I walked out of the office and headed to my car. I didn't want to be alone really so, instead of going home, I drove to the Bikini Lounge. I walked inside, threw an apron on, picked up a spatula, and simply started helping in the kitchen.

"Someone's had a bad day," Madge commented.

"I didn't want to be alone. Tom Blanchard died today."

"Oh, Bella, I'm sorry."

"It was his time. He was a good guy."

"Blondie, I need two burgers, hold the lettuce on one!" Frank yelled from the bar.

"Frank's happy you're here."

"Yeah, well, it's kind of my home away from home."

Madge gave me a hug. "You're welcome anytime here. You do know that, right?"

"I sure do." I worked in the kitchen for the rest of the night to take my mind off of things. It's what I needed to do the most.

The next two weeks were insanely busy. After notifying the staff of Dr. Blanchard's passing, Dr. Greenbriar and I took the steps needed to ready the practice for transfer of ownership. The majority of the staff was staying put with the exception of Emily, who was hired away by Dr. Greenbriar. I didn't make any decisions regarding my future. I decided that I needed a bit of a break from the hustle and bustle of work before making my next move.

**XOXO**

**_Three months later..._**

**Paul's POV**

The highway restoration project was in full swing and, so far, everything was on schedule. The men and women that I hired were all dependable, hard workers. They were happy to have employment for the next few years and were putting their best efforts into the job.

Joe Cameron moved his entire family to Arizona and was now living in the house next door to Bella's old house that Jared and Kim were renting out. Normally, I didn't deal with finding housing for new hires, but this was a special case. Joe had, more or less, stepped into the role of father when I was a kid. He made sure I was well fed and gave me whatever guidance he could to keep me on the right track. So, since the house next door to Bella's was on the market, I paid cash for it and moved Joe and his family in, charging an outrageously low rent like I did with Jared and Kim. I had a second reason for doing this: I wanted Jenny to be in a good school district. I talked to Mr. Trainor and he referred me to many social service programs that would benefit Jenny. On top of that, Babs came through with a whole slew of programs available only to Native Americans registered to a tribe.

Jenny was finishing off the school year being homeschooled by Rachel and Jessica. She was due to have her baby in July and, after a thorough discussion between Jenny, her parents, and Mr. Trainor—it was decided that it would be best if she started off fresh in September without the challenges of having to explain her pregnancy to fellow classmates.

So now we get to Bella.

Bella.

Bella who was jobless and constantly organizing the closets because she had nothing better to do. Bella who tried to clean our pool out by herself—also because she had nothing better to do. Bella who is going to destroy our house with all of her DIY improvements. Bella who attempted to change the oil on her Lexus by herself, only to shower herself and the garage floor with a few quarts of oil. Bella who needed to get a damned job because I couldn't take her goddamned pacing around the house anymore!

The worst part about this? It was my fault. It was my fault because when Dr. Blanchard passed away three months ago, I suggested that she take a break from working and try her hand at being a homemaker because I really hated the long hours she'd been keeping. There was also a bit of my stupid male pride that wantd to prove to the world that I could support my wife and support her in style. Little did I know that my wife was someone who needed to be constantly busy. Well, I did, but I was hoping she would keep busy by doing normal wifely things—whatever the heck they were—because I only had one wife who was currently... _I smell paint... _"Bella!"

I rushed out to the garage where the smell was coming from and...holy shit! "Honey, what are you doing?"

"I'm painting over the spot where I spilled grease on because you were so upset. I thought I'd use paint to cover it up and figured I could repaint the entire floor."

"Bella, you're using hot pink spray paint."

"I know, isn't it pretty? I thought I could spray paint a giant heart to cover it up."

_Did she say she wanted to spray paint a freaking heart?_ "Put the can down, Bella."

"Let me just..."

"Give. Me. The. Can."

"No." She put the can behind her back.

"Give me the can."

"No."

"Bella, you can't spray paint the floor. Now give me the can!"

"Paul, I saw it on one of those DIY shows on..." I rushed towards her, pulled her into my arms, kissed her, and grabbed the offending can of spray paint. "Hey! I was using that!"

"Bella, it's the wrong kind of paint! You need special paint for floors and I'm going to have garage tiles put in to cover the damage from the oil."

"Yeah, but pink is so pretty and..." She broke down and cried. Oh God. Why me? I can't handle it when my wife cries. "Oh, Paul—I make such a sucky housewife."

_Yep, you sure do. Damn it, I can't tell her that. She tries so hard._ "No, you don't. You're organized...I mean, you sorted everything in our closet and our dresser drawers by color. And you work magic with that new label maker you bought. I appreciate how you Ziploc each pair of clean socks I own and label them by color. How about you take up a hobby? You like playing tennis. Why don't you work with the pro at the club?" What the hell was wrong with me? This was my opportunity to tell her to go back to work; instead I tell her that she makes a great housewife because she just looks so sad and forlorn.

"I guess I could," she whimpered. "My serve can use some work."

"Good, good. Take lessons everyday if you have to."

"I'll call Anders and ask him if he has any time available."

She's going to call the new tennis pro who just arrived from Sweden? Oh, no, no, no! "Or golf? How about you take private golf lessons?" I suggested.

"Oh, I can do both. I'll call Scott Redeagle."

No, no, she won't be calling Scott Redeagle with the built physique from the Maricopa Nation. Nope. No way! No how! I smiled at her. "Hey, honey, I've got an idea. How about you and I go out and get some dinner? You haven't started cooking yet, have you?"

"No, I haven't. I've been so worried about the garage floor. You were so upset about it last night."

"Well, you deserve a treat then. Let's go." Why the heck didn't I just tell her to go back to work? Then again, she does have to come to the realization that this homemaker thing isn't working for her on her own.

"You know, Paul—I was thinking that I could plan next year's Christmas party for your work. It's going to be a much larger event than last year because of all of the new employees."

"Bella, it's still May—you want to plan the party now?" She nodded her head at me. "Honey, you generally procrastinate and don't get to these things until the beginning of November."

"It's part of the new me. I have nothing better to do anyway."

"Sure, whatever you want to do, hon." _God! Grow some balls and just tell her straight up to get the hell back to work!_

**_One month later..._**

"Paul, just give her time. She'll come to her senses and realize that she should be working. Look on the bright side, Crispy ran into her on the tennis court the other day and he said that she was volleying like a pro with Anders."

I scowled at my friend. "Jeff, at seventy bucks an hour, three times a week, to work with the tennis pro—there had better be some improvement."

I took a frustrated swing, missing the hole completely—my golf ball rolling straight into a sand trap. "You know, Paul—you should work on that swing with Scott Redeagle. He's done wonders for Bella's swing."

I growled at Jeff for that. He knew that I'd been shelling out eighty-five bucks an hour for my wife to work on her swing with the golf pro twice a week. I didn't care about the money, we had plenty of it—it was the whole concept of her taking lessons from these new young pros. Yeah, I was jealous, but I refused to show it so I bitched and moaned to my friends about the cost instead. They probably saw right through me.

After losing miserably by going so far over par that I even scared myself, we headed to our own homes to shower and get ready for a pack barbeque I was hosting at my house.

"Hey, honey," I greeted Bella as soon as I walked in.

"How was your golf game?"

"I was fifteen over par today, Bella."

"Fifteen over par? Isn't that a bit excessive? I've been well under par lately."

_Yeah, with the amount of golf lessons you take, you had damn well better be under par, wife!_ "My mind wasn't on the game."

"Well, maybe you can work on your swing with me on Monday when I have my lesson with Scott?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Yeah, I like spending time with you." For some reason, that one response warmed me inside and out.

"Okay, you schedule it and I'll be there."

"Good."

She kissed me on the lips, and damn it, it had been so long that I just couldn't control myself. I picked her up and carried her upstairs, peeling her clothes off on the way. I hopped into the shower and lathered her beautiful body up, running my hands all over her curves. She purred in delight and started licking me all over my body, she dropped down to her knees, took me into her warm mouth and...

"Paul! You aren't even going to believe the shit I just saw!" a familiar voice interrupted. The offending wolf looked down and grinned. "Oh, hey, Bella. You look hot like that."

Bella popped me out of her mouth, stood up, and scooted behind me. She was the brightest shade of red I'd ever seen.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I shook my head and my hands too. "Forget it. Just…just let us get dressed and you can tell us. Wait downstairs."

"Sure, sure."

"What the heck is he doing here on a Saturday afternoon?"

"I don't know, but he must have seen something serious." I kissed her on the lips. "I want more of that later."

Bella simply giggled. We finished our shower, dressed hurriedly, and then went downstairs. The wolf was passed out on our sofa snoring like there was no tomorrow.

"Did he drive here?" Bella asked, her natural nursing instincts prompting her to check his pulse. That's another thing she's been doing—checking everyone's pulse wherever she went.

"I don't know. I'm going to check our driveway." When I peeked outside, I noticed that his truck was parked there. "Yep, he drove. What do you think happened?"

"No idea. I don't want to wake him up though."

"We'll let him sleep." I peered at the clock. "Everyone's going to start showing up soon anyway."

Right on cue, Brady walked into the house. "What's Collin's truck doing here?"

"No idea. He kind of just showed up and then went to sleep." _After interrupting the blowjob I was getting from my imprint._

"Weird. Does Linda know he's gone?"

"No idea."

One by one, everyone started showing up—all wondering why the baby wolf of the pack was here. We all let him sleep and started grilling. Once the smell of ribs hit his nostrils, he bolted awake.

"Is that food I smell? I'm starving. I drove straight here, stopping only for gas, coffee, and the occasional piss."

"Well, what was so urgent that you needed to drive here, and why didn't you just call us?"

"No way. This was something that I had to tell you in person."

"You could have just asked us all to phase."

"Not for this. Here's what happened..."

**_Twenty three hours ago…_**

**Collin's POV**

I sighed as I made the deposit at the bank. I was tired. The week had been long and hectic. Seemingly every car in Forks and La Push had been in for some sort of repair work. It was great for our profit margin, of course, but I was beat. I had worked until well past closing every night except for the night the boys had Boy Scouts. I wanted to give Jake a bit of a break because he needed to get home to his kids. This afternoon, though, my exhaustion must have been apparent because Jake insisted that I go home after I made the bank deposit.

"_I'll stay and finish up. Don't worry about me so much, cuz. My dad has the kids and he's comfortable driving the van so we'll be fine."_

"_I just worry about you and the kids."_

"_I know you worry, but I think I'm finally growing up," _he joked and flashed me his trademark smile. I knew he was hurting inside, but at the same time, he was almost relieved that the situation between Angela and him had occurred. He had no love for her—that much was for sure. She had crossed the line when she hit his kids. What was ironic about the situation was that I wanted to beat the crap out of her. It took both Seth and Jake to hold me down in wolf form so I wouldn't go on a rampage and tear apart Angela for hurting my nieces and nephews. My anger was only tampered down when Paul had phased in and told me to cool it. Of course, this didn't stop Linda. She confronted Angela a few days later and gave her a piece of her mind plus a swift slap across her left cheek, immediately following Reverend Weber's services on a Sunday, in front of all of his parishioners. God, I love my wife!

I hopped into my truck, yawned, and stretched out my arms. I really needed to get home and rest a bit. I started the engine and began my trek home. I waved to Chief Swan as he drove by me slowly, warning, "Put your god-damned seat belt on, Collin!" I rolled my eyes, but put on my seat belt. "That's better," he told me.

I continued on my path home, I guess the gods of sleep weren't working in my favor today because I was stuck in some sort of traffic jam in the middle of Forks where that sort of thing was unheard of. I heard sirens coming from behind me and pulled as far as I could to the shoulder. Charlie's squad car had doubled back followed by Seth's. A fire truck and an ambulance were the next two vehicles to pass. It must be an accident. I inched forward in the traffic only to find I was completely stopped again. I stuck my head out of the window to try to see what was going on, but even with my enhanced wolf vision—I couldn't see anything. I let out a frustrated sigh then took in my surroundings. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something. My eyes widened when I turned to get a good look at what was happening. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I grabbed the camera that I always had in the truck for taking pics of my kids and snapped a few pictures using the zoom lens. I listened in to the conversation closely—I could hear clearly what was transpiring in the parking lot. I continued to observe the scene for fifteen minutes straight until traffic started moving again. I passed Charlie again; he was outside surveying the scene of an accident. "Tell my wife I'm going to Phoenix. Not a word to Jake."

He looked up at me, surprised, and so did Seth from a distance. They both nodded to me as I took off for the highway. I needed to get to my alpha quickly and I needed to drive there because I didn't want to risk Jake phasing in. Of course, twelve hours into my drive, I realized that I should have flown to Phoenix from Seattle, but oh well, I never said I was a genius.

I wanted to close my eyes, but I kept going—stopping only to fill my tank up and buy cheap gas station coffee. I arrived at Paul's house, making excellent time. I walked in through his back porch door and scented him out upstairs. My mind was focused on telling him. Of course, I wasn't counting on walking in on him getting a blow in the shower from his wife, who I'd be remiss if I didn't mention had almost as nice a body as my Linda. In any case, I went downstairs so they could finish up in private. I found a couch and fell fast asleep.

I woke up to the smell of ribs. I hadn't eaten in over a day.

"So what is it? What did you see?" Paul questioned.

I sighed and looked up at my alpha. "Angela Black and Tony Fuller are having an affair."

You could hear a pin drop in the room it was so quiet.

"She's having sex with my father?" Brady asked, completely appalled.

"Yeah, it appears she is."

"That's sick! She's sick! He's sick!" Brady clenched his fists and took a few calming breaths. How he always managed to not phase and stay in control baffled me. "Does my mother know?"

"I don't know, Brady. I'm just telling you what I saw and heard in those few minutes."

"You haven't told us anything. What..." He was interrupted mid-speech by the doorbell ringing. One of the coyotes, Manny—went to answer the door.

"Hi, my name is Linda Littlesea. I'm looking for my husband Collin. I see his truck here...and...and...I brought tequila."

"I'll take the tequila."

"No, you can't! It's for Bella, Jess, and Babs."

Everyone started laughing. "Linda, get in here!" Bella called.

My wife was soon standing in front of me screaming, "What the hell is going on? I had Chief Swan and Seth both telling me that you were on your way to Phoenix and that I couldn't say a word to Jake. I waited and waited until morning, but you didn't call." She fished my cell phone out of her pocket and held it in front of my face. "You forgot this on the dining table, by the way!"

"Linda, where are the kids?"

"My parents are watching them. I freaked out when you hadn't called by morning so I took them to my parents' house and hopped on a flight to Phoenix." She slapped my arm. "Don't do that to me ever again!"

"I'm sorry. I was so focused on getting here that I forgot."

"I don't like to worry, you know that! You made me worry!"

"I'm sorry, baby. I really am."

"I'm just glad you're safe."

"You know? This is how imprints are supposed to react. They aren't supposed to be sleeping around on their wolves like Angela is," Jared pointed out. "Uh, how are you Linda?"

"Good, you lost weight."

"Oh, yeah, Paul and Crispy have all of us working out."

"It's about time. You were getting pretty fluffy looking there." She turned towards Quil and poked his stomach. "Especially you."

"Nice to see you again, too, Linda."

"How are my nieces and nephews?"

"They're good. We're having an adults-only barbeque today. Number Six is babysitting his brother and sister."

"I see. Can I see them while I'm here?"

"Of course you can. You're their aunt," Rachel told her.

"So, is Angela sleeping with Brady's dad?" Linda asked.

"How did you guess?"

"I've always thought she had an unnatural relationship with that guy. Think about it? She defended his son over her own son. Who does that sort of thing? Then there's the fact that she's set up in a comfy, cozy, luxury townhouse where the Cullen home used to be. How the hell can she afford that on her pay?"

"When did this happen?" Jeff asked.

"Who are you?" she asked suspiciously, looking him up and down as if he were some sort of a dessert. Actually, maybe she wasn't suspicious. Aw, hell, I think she's checking him out. She's focused on his biceps.

"I'm sorry, Linda. Let me introduce you to everyone." Bella proceeded to introduce my imprint to the coyotes and their mates.

"You weren't kidding. These guys are hot. We don't have guys who look like them where we're from."

"Hey!" I protested.

"Sorry, Collin, but it's true. Hands down, the coyotes are better looking and they stay in shape. You, Paul, and Brady are excluded, of course. You three are in great shape. The rest of you wolves are all pathetically soft. I can probably run circles around all of you."

"Alright, can we get back on topic here? Collin, tell us more of your story!" Paul ordered.

"Right, so here's what happened..."

**Aren't you glad Sammy is going to get to letter in wrestling? And aren't you even happier that Sam is dropping his son off at school now? How do you feel about Paul hooking up Jared's parents in a nice home? Poor Bella, her boss and mentor has passed away and now she has no job. How do you feel about Mrs. Lahote being Mrs. Lahote the housewife? What should she do? What should Paul do? But you don't want to talk about Bella, do you? What do you think of the whopper Collin just hit everyone with? I'd love to hear from you. XOXO mama4dukes**


	26. Chapter 26

**This story is AU/OOC.**

**All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement intended.**

**_Twenty three hours ago..._**

**Angela's POV**

I pulled into the parking lot of the church and waited. He was late and I was seriously annoyed; I hated to be kept waiting.

His Mercedes slipped into the stall next to mine. He got out of his car and knocked on my window. "Sorry, it took so long to get here. For some reason, traffic is crawling. Are you ready to go?"

I looked behind me onto the road. He was right, the traffic was moving slowly. Maybe there was an accident or something? I got out of the car and allowed him to kiss me.

"I need to talk to you first."

"What is it that you need to talk to me about?" he asked.

I might as well get straight to the point. I took a deep breath before giving him the bad news. "Tony, I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"I'm assuming it's mine."

"Of course, it's yours! Jake and I have been legally separated since December and everyone in Forks and La Push knows it, thanks to that bitch Linda Littlesea freaking out on me in front of my father's congregation."

I remembered that day clearly. Linda, who had once been a loyal friend, decided to turn on me. She was waiting outside of the church after services when she confronted me about how I supposedly abused my kids and slapped me in front of all of my father's parishioners. It was embarrassing to say the least. After that, my parents had the nerve to throw me out of the house. They declared that they were embarrassed about me and that I was an unfit mother. Apparently, their grandkids were more important to them than their own daughter. Ugh! I just couldn't understand their reasoning! In any case, I had nowhere to go. I called Tony and he paid for a hotel room in Port Angeles for me. I stayed there until he was able to find housing for me. Unfortunately, I ended up pregnant again. Normally, this wouldn't be a bad thing, but the timing was bad. I wanted custody of the kids so Jake would be responsible for child support, alimony, and housing. There was also the fact that Tony was still living with that simpering wife of his! When was he going to leave her?

"This is going to be a major problem."

"Oh, really? I'm glad you think so Tony because I agree. I'm going to schedule an abortion"

"An abortion? This is our child, Angela. I love you. I want you to have the baby. This baby is a token of our love."

"Tony, this will cause a major scandal. Besides, I'm still married to Jake and you're still married to Brenda. You've been promising to leave her for two and a half years!"

"It's a minor technicality that can be easily resolved." Tony plastered me up against my car and kissed me. I moaned as he played with my nipple over my blouse. "I'll support the baby. I'll be a good father."

"You said the same thing to Tiffany Call over thirty years ago and didn't give her one red cent except for a home on the reservation. In fact, Embry doesn't even know that you're his father."

"I was much younger then and I didn't have the resources that I do now. Besides, Tiffany Call was just some Makah bitch that I fucked after the prom. It wasn't my problem that she got knocked up."

"I'm not so sure I can trust you."

"Of course you can trust me, darling. I paid that credit card bill for you, didn't I? And I paid your car off and set you up in your own townhouse."

"Yes, but still, your track record isn't that great."

"I know it isn't, but this time it'll be different." He put his hands on my abdomen. "This baby will be loved and cherished because I love the mother more than life itself. You know something else?"

"What?"

"I'm going to buy you an engagement ring this weekend."

"Oh, Tony!" I kissed him deeply on the lips. He understood me unlike Jacob. He also felt that we both deserved better than the hellhole that's the Olympic Peninsula, and was working hard to get us out of here. He felt that I should be pampered and spoiled instead of being Jacob's damned breeding machine. Sure, he was sixteen years older than I was, but age wasn't issue. He grabbed my overnight bag and put it into the trunk of his Mercedes. He helped me into the passenger seat. We locked up my Volvo and waited for the traffic to start moving again before heading off to spend the weekend together in Vancouver.

**XOXO**

**Paul's POV**

"Embry is my half-brother?" Brady questioned after Collin finished telling his story. He and Embry kept staring at each other. Finally, the older brother opened up his arms to his younger half-sibling and they hugged each other.

"Hey, you and I are the best things to come from Tony Fuller. Now we have to get custody of that kid that Angela is giving birth to because neither of them are fit to be parents, and like it or not, that kid is our brother."

Brady nodded his head in agreement.

"Do you realize how fucked up this is?" I asked. "What the hell are we going to tell Jake?"

"I don't know. I'm just the messenger. You figure it out, you're the alpha!" Collin stated.

_Screw that! This is too messed up for me to delve into. I'm passing the buck._ "Crispy! You figure it out. You're my lawyer!"

"It's easy. You have him run up here and we all tell him."

"Why all of us?"

"Because we want to show him that we're behind him one hundred percent."

"Good idea!"

"Bella, do you have..." My eyes bulged. "What the hell are you doing to my tennis racquet?"

"I'm cutting the strings on them. I want to restring it for you."

"How are you planning on restringing it?"

"On our new stringing machine."

"When did we purchase a stringing machine?"

"It arrived yesterday. I need to practice."

"So you're practicing on my racquet instead of yours?"

"I use mine more than yours. Plus I just got mine restrung at the pro shop by the certified racquet stringer."

"Bella, get a fucking job!" Babs snapped. "You're doing all of this frivolous shit when you should be out there delivering babies and taking care of patients."

"Hey, I resent that. Paul said that I make a great housewife. Didn't you?"

My entire pack glared at me as I replied, "You do, honey. I really love how you knit me a wool scarf."

"Paul, we live in the desert. When the hell are you ever going to wear wool?"

"I'll wear it the next time I go to Washington in the winter, Babs."

"You're a goddamned wolf with elevated temperatures." She turned to Bella. "You need to get back to work. You spend three hours a day at the gym, two hours at the country club, and the rest of the time cleaning out all of your closets and labeling shit that doesn't need to be labeled. You are bored—plain and simple, Bella. Now get it through your thick skull that you are not meant to be a housewife!"

"I'm sorry that you feel that way." Bella marched upstairs and slammed the door to our room. A few minutes later, she came back down the stairs dressed in her tennis gear. "I'll be at the club working on my serve!"

"Man, I shudder when I think about your country club bill," Jeff noted.

"Lately, it hasn't been a very pleasant thing to look at," I admitted. It really hasn't been. Between court fees, green fees, and pro fees—our bill has been astronomical.

_God, I can't believe Babs and my wife lost it like that_. "Alright, I'll call Jake and then go after Bella. You guys keep the party going."

"Bella will eventually come to her senses, Babs. You have to let her work through this alone. She's probably still mourning the loss of Dr. Blanchard. He was her mentor," Randy told her.

"I just hate seeing her like this."

"I know you do. She just needs time. Give her time, Babs. She'll be back to her old self soon enough."

**XOXO**

After calling Jake, I hopped into my truck and headed to the club. Bella was sitting outside by the pool sipping on an iced tea.

"Can I sit with you?"

"It's your membership, Paul. I'm just a useless housewife."

"You're being ridiculous. It's our membership. What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I'm bored, but I'm not bored. I like working, but the thought of those long hours terrify me. I like playing tennis and golf, but I really don't feel comfortable hanging out with these hoity-toity society types because they're so damned snobby. That's why I take so many lessons—so I don't have to socialize with the housewives from hell."

"They terrify me, too."

"And you like having a housewife."

"No, I like having a happy wife and you aren't happy, Bella. I want you to be happy again."

"I'm so confused."

"Maybe you should talk to a counselor."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe."

I wrapped my arms around her and held her. "I love you, Bella. We'll get through this. It's just a minor bump in the road."

"I know. At least we don't have Jake's problems."

"This is true. We've got a major issue here. We have a new pack baby coming, and with it, all sorts of bloodline issues and parents who are unfit to raise a child. On top of that, Tony and Angela's baby will be Jenny Cameron's baby's uncle. Do you see how screwed up this is?"

"I do, Paul. How could she do this to him? To Jake? Jake has a heart of gold and she took advantage of him. How could she hurt him like that?"

"I don't know. Something went wrong with that imprint. We're going to have to consult with the elders."

"Yeah." She looked towards the tennis court. "Ooh, my court is ready. Do you want to play with me?"

"I didn't bring a racquet."

"You could get a loaner from the clubhouse." She looked up at me with pleading eyes. Have I been neglecting her that much?

"Alright, you win. I'll get a loaner."

Within ten minutes, we were smacking tennis balls back and forth to each other on the court. It reminded me of the first days of our relationship, before we were married and as happy as clams—before I became so busy. It occurred to me that maybe I wasn't spending enough time with my wife because she seemed really happy to be hanging out with me.

**XOXO**

When we returned to the house, Emily was sitting on the front porch waiting for us. "What's up, Em?" I asked.

"I was just worried about Bella." She turned to my wife. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just have a lot of thinking to do," she replied, while picking up Emily's wrist and taking her pulse. Being a great friend, Emily just took it in stride. In fact, no one batted an eyelash whenever Bella took their pulse anymore because they understood it was something she just needed to do.

"You know I'm here for you, right?"

"Always, Emily."

Babs came rushing out of the house. "Bella, I'm sorry for being a bitch."

"It's okay. I've probably been annoying."

"No, it's not that. It's just that you seem so unhappy."

"I'm not unhappy. I guess I'm just confused."

"You'll figure it out. I know you will. And I'm here for you, even though I'm a harsh bitch."

"Oh, don't worry, Bella can be a harsh bitch, too," Emily joked.

I was happy to see that my wife had such a great support system. Babs and Emily were both close to Bella and it was good for her to be with such caring women.

"Here, take my pulse," Babs said, handing Bella her wrist.

We walked into the house and sat with everyone. Linda was manning the blender and making margaritas. She had discovered my liquor cabinet because the bottle of tequila she'd brought was long gone and half of the imprints were tipsy.

"I never knew that Linda was such a party animal," Kim commented.

"We discovered that she was over Thanksgiving. She has a particular affinity for tequila."

"Huh, you learn new things everyday. I like the new Linda."

"I think she's grown up," I commented.

Four hours later, an exhausted Jacob appeared along with Seth.

"What? What is it that was so important that I needed to go furry and run all the way here?"

"Why is Seth with you?"

"Duh...I didn't want to run all the way here by myself. What if a vampire attacked me? Besides, he knew the way. Can I have a beer? I'm parched." He looked around the living room. "Why is everyone here? What's going on?"

"Jake, it's about Angela."

"Yeah? What has the bitch done now?"

"She..." God, how am I supposed to tell him that his wife has been cuckolding him and she's knocked up with someone else's kid? "Jake...uh..."

Thankfully, Barry decided to save me at that moment.

"Jake, your wife has been having an illicit affair with Tony Fuller for two and a half years. She is now expecting his child, and we also found out that Embry is Tony's son."

"Say that again, Barry."

"You heard me the first time. Collin came to us with the news."

"This is just great, isn't it?" Jake replied—shaking his head before he sat down and guzzled down a bottle of Scotch that was sitting on the coffee table and started laughing. In fact, he couldn't stop laughing. He suddenly grabbed my imprint and twirled her around happily before hugging her.

"Jacob, are you okay?" Bella asked, worried. She, of course, immediately took his pulse.

"Are you kidding me? I'm more than okay. I'm happy!"

"Happy? Why?"

"The truth—it can be liberating, don't you think?

"That's one way of looking at it."

"Think about it, Bells! Angela has screwed herself into a hole—literally. There isn't any way that she's going to get custody of my kids now especially since she's carrying evidence of her affair inside of her."

"This is very true. It'll definitely come into play in a court of law. Have you filed for divorce yet?" Jeff asked.

"I did as soon as the three month legal separation was up. I cited irreconcilable differences, but she slapped me with a counter suit. She wants custody of the kids plus child support, alimony, housing, and half of my share of the business."

"I highly doubt she'll win, but Crispy and I will look over the case for you. Who is your lawyer?"

"I don't have one yet."

"I'll find a top notch BIA family attorney for you. They'll fight for custody of your kids for you. In any case, the Indian Child Welfare Act should work in your favor. We like to keep Native American kids on the reservation if at all possible, especially with an unfit mother like Angela."

"Thanks, Jeff."

"No problem."

Upon observing Jacob, I realized that he had made peace with the fact that his imprint had disappeared. He looked comfortable, happy, and serene. Later, after everyone had left and Seth, the Littleseas, and my imprint were safely tucked into their own beds, I asked him, "Hey, Jake? Do you feel any sort of pull towards Angela?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Scary, isn't it? I didn't realize that the pull had been gradually diminishing over the last couple of years. When I witnessed her hitting my kids, it was the last straw; I felt something snap. You know how when you first imprint, you feel as if you're being bound together with your imprint by an invisible rope?"

"Yeah, I do. I still feel that way."

"Well, that's good. I think that's how you're supposed to feel. You see, when she hit my kids, she gave me an ultimatum. She told me to pick between the kids or her. I picked the kids, of course. That's when it happened. It was like Quileute magic. As soon as I chose the kids, it felt like a giant pair of scissors cut the tie that bound us together and retied itself. It bound me to my kids instead, Paul. Does that even make sense? Can I imprint on my own children?"

"On the one hand, it makes sense; on the other hand, it goes against everything we've been taught about imprinting."

"Yeah, I know."

"We're going to have to talk to one of the Coyote elders."

"I agree. Can we do that tomorrow?"

"Yeah, it shouldn't be a problem."

I must have looked a bit upset because the next thing Jake asked was, "Are you okay, Paul? You look like you're thinking about something."

"It's Bella. She hasn't been herself since she stopped working."

Jake rolled his eyes at me. "Well, duh."

"Can you expand on that enlightening statement, please?"

"Paul, you're the Great Spirit Warrior, your mate is a healer. She's not healing anyone if she's not working. And if she's not healing, she's going to be unhappy. Besides, Bella has wanted to be a nurse from the time she was a little kid. It's the only thing she's ever wanted to do."

"God, I feel stupid. I'm the one who suggested that she take a break from working."

"Paul, believe it or not, aside from you, I'm the one who knows Bella—the real Bella—the best. We've known each other since we were in the playpen together. I know why you told her to take a break from working. It's because she works and works and works and doesn't know how to relax. Even when she was in high school, she worked about thirty hours a week at Newtons on top of going to school. Crazy, if you ask me. And when she was a little kid, she used to follow my mother around so she could help her with chores. Bella doesn't feel useful unless she works, but at the same time—she needs to find a happy medium because all of those hours could kill her. I think it's good that she's taking a break so she can figure out on her own what to do."

"So you're telling me that I shouldn't suggest that she go back to work."

"Let her figure it out for herself, Paul. She's a big girl."

I patted Jake on the back. "Thanks, man."

"You're welcome. You're a lucky bastard, you know. Bella's a great girl."

"I know that."

"I didn't deserve her." He looked wistfully into my eyes. "But you did, Paul. You deserved her more than any of us did."

"Sometimes, I still don't know why I was given Bella as an imprint."

"Look around you, Paul. You earned this. You carved this out for yourself out of nothing. You are the best; that's why you have the best."

"I wouldn't say the best, you haven't seen what my imprint did to the garage. Come with me, I'll show you."

I told him all about Bella trying to change the oil and then attempting to cover up the grease spots with pink spray paint. "You're kidding me?"

"Nope, it gets worse. After that, she hired a contractor to repair the damage. Of course, I'm the idiot who trusted her."

"And?"

I opened the garage door. "Voila! This is the result."

"Paul! Your garage looks like Malibu Barbie's Dream House!"

"Tell me about it. I have to park here everyday."

"Paul, there are pink and silver floor tiles on your garage floor."

"Yes, I see them everyday, too."

"Paul, the floor tiles are sparkly."

"Bella, likes sparkly."

"This is true. She did date a sparkly vampire once."

I arched an eyebrow at him, and then started laughing. "You're right, maybe she was attracted to him because he looked like he bathed in glitter glue."

"Bella can be a bit obsessive, but Paul, this is your man cave."

"I know."

"Paul, what happened to your balls?"

"She took them and hid them."

"At least she kept your fridge and your tool chest."

"Apparently the stainless steel goes with the floor tiles."

"Sarah would love this garage."

"I'm sure she would."

"Paul, your garage is…cute."

"Yep and I paid for this cute garage."

"Hey, is that your new truck?" he asked, changing the subject.

"It is."

"Let me check it out, man."

"Sure, you want to take it for a spin?"

"Yeah, can I?" I threw the keys to him and hopped into the passenger side. He started up the engine, backed out of the garage, and started driving. We ended up sitting down at a bar and having drinks together. It occurred to me that Jacob was, for the first time in his adult life, content. That was a great thing. I realized something else, though. I finally understood why he and Bella got along so well. Jacob Black was actually a very cool guy.

**XOXO**

The next morning, the whole pack phased by the Gila River to try and figure out what happened with Jake's imprint. We were able to see and hear through Collin's mind, the entirety of what he had witnessed between Angela and Fuller; and through Jake's mind, we were able to see the moment the imprint broke. Unfortunately, this also included Angela abusing her children. This had all of us in frenzied states for a good twenty minutes.

We were now back in our human forms, sitting in Crispy's father's living room. He was the Chief of the Wa-Ya Indian Nation as well as being a shifter. The senior elders, and by senior elders I mean the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers of the coyotes were all in conference with the elder shaman Kwatoko Whitefoot. His daughter Tolinka had just married Old Quil in a quickie ceremony in Reno and he was seriously unhappy that both his daughter and new son-in-law had shirked their responsibilities to both tribes. I just found it funny that he kept referring to Old Quil as 'the little turd.'

Kwatoko approached Jacob. "This is only a guess because I have yet to fully study the Quileute legends and history, but I have a feeling that your bond broke because it was never able to fully form with Angela. How could it? A spirit warrior could never be bonded to someone with such a poisoned mind. I will need to return to La Push with you to give you a full answer."

"There's hope for me after all!" Quil joked. "Maybe I'm not stuck with Rachel for life."

"Shut the hell up, Quil. You love Rachel," Manny interjected.

"Yeah, I do. I'd love her more if she'd stop trying to poison the kids and me with her cooking."

"I'm talking about morals and values, you goddamned idiot!" Kwatoko snapped. "Rachel is pretty solid in that department."

"Yeah, she is. She has her head screwed on straight for the most part."

"So, how are you going to be able to tell whether or not the bond fully formed or not?" I asked the old shaman.

"It's actually just one of two theories."

"What's the other theory?"

"I don't know yet. There's always another theory to be discovered, though."

I cracked up at Kwatoko's answer. Basically, the guy had no idea what was going on with Jacob's imprint situation, but he was willing to do some research to find out.

"Thanks," I told him.

"You're welcome." He paused for a second before fixing his gaze upon me. "You worry too much, young Paul. Life always has an uncanny way of working itself out, even without your hand in it."

With that statement, he left me to my thoughts. He was right; I worried too much about things that I really had no control over. I needed to concentrate more on my own issues; mainly on the fact that my wife seemed to be withdrawing into her own personally created hellhole.

**I gave you a bit of insight into Angela's mind. What did you think? Do you think she deserves the mother of the year award? Isn't Tony (aka Brady and now Embry's father) an upstanding citizen? Were you surprised by Jake's reaction to this fiasco? What about his opinion about Bella? Is he correct? Let me know your thoughts on the chapter and I'll get back to you. XOXO mama4dukes**


End file.
